Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January?
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Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network?
Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU.
You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths:
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
Elena Rossini (blog.elenarossini.com)
@_elena At least for me it's clear... W social is a financial project to grap some founding money. It's not a project with European sovereignty in mind or with sovereignty for Europeans.
Therefore, it should be avoided.
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Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network?
Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU.
You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths:
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
Elena Rossini (blog.elenarossini.com)
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Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network?
Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU.
You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths:
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
Elena Rossini (blog.elenarossini.com)
@_elena thank you, for doing the work journalism / media should have been doing!
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Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network?
Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU.
You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths:
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
Elena Rossini (blog.elenarossini.com)
@_elena Monet being like: Am I a joke to you?
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Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network?
Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU.
You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths:
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
Elena Rossini (blog.elenarossini.com)
I've also seen references to a BlackSky SM platform which seems to be another Bluesky clone?
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Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network?
Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU.
You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths:
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
Elena Rossini (blog.elenarossini.com)
@_elena Thank you for all the research and writing it up this way!
Bookmarking it for anyone who will mention "W" to me. -
Regarding my W Social exposé: it was months in the making and I could have written a LOT more, showing additional examples of technical blunders, but I kept it "brief" at 3500 words
I ran out of characters to tag all the awesome people I mentioned in the piece: @doktorzjivago (thanks for the top notch meme), @tom @mapache and @Em0nM4stodon
And special thanks to people who volunteered to proof-read a draft and gave me fantastic feedback: @bitzero and @DataKnightmare
It takes a village
️@_elena Thanks! Let's hope the message lands!
Journalism has been disappointing. One journalist picking up on it was working for Dutch NOS. On launch she asked "Bluesky fork?" and got shut down with a "we'll share tech details later".
>Eurosky .. carefully planned out,
But also dishonest. Eurosky is an offshoot from a failed global grift now trying the Europe angle.
On launch I emailed back-and-forth with them multiple times to fix their privacy policy. Even now they make false claims.
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Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network?
Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU.
You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths:
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
Elena Rossini (blog.elenarossini.com)
@_elena thanks for unmasking the effort. looking forward to the complete unmasking of who is behind it.
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Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network?
Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU.
You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths:
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
Elena Rossini (blog.elenarossini.com)
@_elena and #Wedium (again W) is just as shady. https://www.rnd.de/wirtschaft/wedium-und-w-social-jetzt-kommen-die-europaeischen-social-media-alternativen-RY5VRNGZXFDXFBCUNSZMZRM6SY.html
English
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Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network?
Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU.
You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths:
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
Elena Rossini (blog.elenarossini.com)
@_elena Same shit as US big tech, wearing an EU mask…
Which is what I think a lot of this sovereignty hype will boil down to:
A lot of US companies will establish subsidies, that will ”Eurowash” their products. In the background the data access for them stays, and nothing changes. We use the same products under a different name and somebody gets a cut.
Neoliberal corporatism is an ideology, and this is the result. So very few people can even see it.
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@_elena and #Wedium (again W) is just as shady. https://www.rnd.de/wirtschaft/wedium-und-w-social-jetzt-kommen-die-europaeischen-social-media-alternativen-RY5VRNGZXFDXFBCUNSZMZRM6SY.html
English
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I've also seen references to a BlackSky SM platform which seems to be another Bluesky clone?
️@simonzerafa I think calling Blacksky a clone is too limiting as they do a ton of good and original work from what I can tell. @_elena
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@_elena and #Wedium (again W) is just as shady. https://www.rnd.de/wirtschaft/wedium-und-w-social-jetzt-kommen-die-europaeischen-social-media-alternativen-RY5VRNGZXFDXFBCUNSZMZRM6SY.html
English
ALT text -
Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network?
Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU.
You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths:
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
Elena Rossini (blog.elenarossini.com)
"Its founders have ties with European politicians"
Apparently also including the German data protection representative Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider
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Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network?
Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU.
You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths:
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
Elena Rossini (blog.elenarossini.com)
@_elena Its goal is to promote you carrying an agent around to spy on you.
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@_elena and #Wedium (again W) is just as shady. https://www.rnd.de/wirtschaft/wedium-und-w-social-jetzt-kommen-die-europaeischen-social-media-alternativen-RY5VRNGZXFDXFBCUNSZMZRM6SY.html
English
ALT text@hannes99 I'd venture to say that Wedium is FAR shadier because it's not based on an open protocol...
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@_elena Thank you for all the research and writing it up this way!
Bookmarking it for anyone who will mention "W" to me.@m4lvin thank you!
️ that was the main goal: use this piece as reference anytime someone brings up W Social and some myths about it
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@_elena thank you, for doing the work journalism / media should have been doing!
@BjornW thank you Bjorn! It means a lot coming from you
️ I'm now thinking I need to translate this into French as well... there is SO MUCH misinformation about W Social here
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@_elena At least for me it's clear... W social is a financial project to grap some founding money. It's not a project with European sovereignty in mind or with sovereignty for Europeans.
Therefore, it should be avoided.
@feyter I think they are betting on mandatory age verification in Europe... which would give them a leg up over Eurosky
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@hannes99 I'd venture to say that Wedium is FAR shadier because it's not based on an open protocol...
@_elena true. At least Bluesky/AT Proto is a solid (while US BigTech) basis. And apparently in their entire team is only IT person, thus heavy usage of vibe coding, when you have to build an entire new social media platform (and protocol) from scratch with only one person. The rest of the #Wedium team is marketing, finance and fundraising experts.
