Post
A strong Europe needs independent digital spaces.
We believe true digital sovereignty thrives on a competitive, contestable, open ecosystem where diverse platforms co-exist.
Today, we’re expanding our presence to W, the new social media. By being on W, we want to boost alternatives and support all efforts toward a decentralised web.
And we continue to invest into our presence on the Fediverse!
great to see the commission embracing decentralised alternatives! since W is built on AT protocol, you can actually be present across W, Eurosky, and Bluesky simultaneously with the same account, no duplication needed
if true digital sovereignty is the goal, it's worth asking: what's the commission's position on Eurosky specifically? it's a non-profit, fully transparent, european-governed ATproto network that's been quietly building this infrastructure since before w was announced
@EUCommission
Please no, not do things in my name as supporting obscurely-backed proprietary services. I could suppose that you are posting here about it, while probably you have no intentions to post there about your account here on Mastodon, or to ask people to switch here. This is the problem, correct me if I' m wrong.
@EUCommission W is not the way forward.
@EUCommission Maybe promote a decentralized service like Mastodon instead of jumping into every private investor funded, centralized, content-algorithmic ID-scanning asscrack...
I really like you EU people... but what the actual fuck, lately...
@EUCommission Absolutely not. This is not the right way to go. Why are you doing this? This goes against everything you have been saying lately. W is just more closed-source garbage, and is just another Nazi bar. Why must you keep disappointing us? How about instead of wasting billions of Euros on this, you send some to Ukraine, so that Russia doesn't start invading Poland sooner?
Also, side note, this is the most replies I have ever seen on a single Mastodon post, and from the ones I have read, 98% of them are negative. Read the room. We don't need a European Elon Musk. No more Nazis!
@EUCommission this is just sad.
@EUCommission corrupts!
The choice of using W is clearly not about reaching audience, is about favouring friends of former Commissioners and likely of current of Commissioners.
@EUCommission just drop W and X and BlueSky and use only open source. The tech is there (i.e. here) and free and open.
@EUCommission Who are you kidding, Bluesky in a new dress?
You should re-imburse the tax payers who funded this crap...
W Social, Public Institutions and the Theater of European Digital Sovereignty
@EUCommission once again, fuck off
@EUCommission I think you are a bit too enthusiatic about W, like european media too yesterday.
The only good point I see is, that its superficially Europeans cloning a US business model. I don't see any more improvements or innovations there. It also doesn't treat me as customer, it treats me as a product in their shelf.
@EUCommission What happened to the Tech sovereignty package which was recently announced?
Are you aware W is now closed source, and the package you just announced includes the EU open source strategy?
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-tech-sovereignty
@EUCommission
Sure. I think you just want mandatory ID and it will be harder to make that happen with the fediverse. Promoting W conflicts with supporting decentralised web.
@EUCommission The new platform seems all to me but „independent“. Good Luck for you.
@EUCommission do you guys ever listen to EU citizens? Mastodon is that platform. W is company owned. What could possibly go wrong?
Probably you don’t read this message and don’t respond either.
@EUCommission Talks about independence, but depends on capitalism... 🙄
@EUCommission While W might have great potential, requiring ID is a red line for me. I've made sacrifices not to have my ID in any leak. I'm not changing my stance on cybersecurity just because now it's a EU company that's asking
@EUCommission Can you please explain why you chose W over Eurosky?
@EUCommission Unlike most reactions, I'm rather positive about the introduction of W Social. Every effort that breaks the network effect of less desirable (American/Chinese) social media is a plus in my book. W might be closer to what the average social media consumer wants.
Now, most users on Mastodon are more principled than the target audience of W. That's why we chose this network in the first place. Bear that in mind for your next toot.
Post in your Wrong digital space that Mrs Vor Der Lynen is a retarder, considering Wrong Social Network as a poor imitation of X fascist social media. She only Whish a mediocre Europe summited to american purposes.
@EUCommission By law you must disclose when a post is sponsored!
@EUCommission Als ob irgendwer die Kommentare hier lesen würde.
@EUCommission
No, thanks.
Fediverse is much better.
@EUCommission it's not decentralized.
Deal with it.
The only decentralized SN, right now is the fediverse.
Deal with it (and fund it).
@EUCommission a) it's controlled by a private company; b) they forked an open source project and took it private. Where exactly does the sovereignty come in?
@EUCommission I think you got the letter upside down 
@EUCommission Were you at least embarrased you had to write this?
@EUCommission Why are you promoting a closed-source, for-profit network?
You can go with Ursula Von Der Liar and her nazi friends from vulture capital to hell.
How long for a "human error" in W will have a breach in users data? It will happen... Misteriously but it will happen.
@EUCommission This is just sad
@EUCommission does „W” stand for „What a piece of crap”?
@EUCommission well I'll be staying following you on Mastodon, rather than a techbro startup. So hope you continue on and further develop your Mastodon presence, and maybe give it as big a plug you're giving W!
@EUCommission
What an absolutely peculiar thing to do. Nope!
@EUCommission Una llàstima que ja existeix la plataforma on ara ho comuniqueu. A, espera, si plantejeu una xarxa social de codi tancat (misteriosament ha desaparegut el codi de GitHub...) i amb el petit detall del control...
PD: Espero que rectifiqueu i reconegueu a Catalunya, al menys els 8 segons.
@EUCommission
We're glad you're here! As for W, I doubt European billionaires will treat us any better than US billionaires.
@EUCommission w-w-w-what is this nonsense?
@EUCommission Disappointed in you...
@EUCommission I understand this so far: W stands for waiting list. Why did you not support the fediverse? I like this better place here and so should you.
@EUCommission W like WTF? Y'all don't really seem to get it - or - you do and your integrity is failing.
@EUCommission really bad move. there’s activitypub and mastodon for what you want to achieve.
@EUCommission I'll pass thanks, and stay on here....
@EUCommission read the room
@EUCommission Could you just explain where W is decentralized as well as an open ecosystem? And how do you define independent?
And aren’t commercial goals and public responsibility slightly conflicting interests, not that politicians seems to have a problem with that?
At least the first and hopefully the last statement remains true.
@EUCommission the w stands for wtf
@EUCommission W is not an alternative if it is closed-source.
You're heading back into a walled garden, which is then contrary to "true digital sovereignty".
@EUCommission
No thanks, why would I?
We're here. It's good and even better.
You chould strengthen the #fediverse by using it. There's no need for another split platform.
@EUCommission Yes we need independent digital spaces, and W is not one. So you're contradicting yourself.
@EUCommission Why even take the time to announce it here. Feels like you’re not even listening to the people on Mastodon. It must have occurred to you that nobody likes this W platform here for its closed source nazi inviting behavior. Poor decision.
@EUCommission If we are to seek a decentralized web we just have to be in one of many instances of the decentralized web.
W looks like a trap: it is not open, it does not integrate with the decentralized web, it looks like a startup of big tech. I don’t see how that can enforce digital sovereignty 🤷🏼♂️
There is a billion reasons OLAF is so underfunded. But any EU citizen still can ask OLAF to investigate how did it happen, and for how much money, that "open source and didgital soveregeinty" of the EU was promptly defaced by the endorsement of MAGA seeded closed platform – with an intent to control the EU population social networking.
You can use OLAF drop to give them a boost:
"Yes we have a business model, it's not a philanthropy, we are not a B corp, we actually want to make money. - Anna Zeiter, CEO of #wsocial
You want to help them make some money, right? So it "stays in Europe".
@EUCommission the EU commission simply _must_ be the most "mixed signals" political entity I know
@EUCommission
What a bizarre choice.
@EUCommission thanks, but no way I follow you there
https://blog.elenarossini.com/w-social-public-institutions-and-the-theater-of-european-digital-sovereignty/
W Social, Public Institutions and the Theater of European Digital Sovereignty
@EUCommission
What the fok are you doing! 😡
@EUCommission please explain why you joined a non-opensource platform after stating clearly that you will promote open source in your recent tech sovereignty package.
Are you aware that the source code vanished from Github? Are you not in control of what you get to see in the platform that you are promoting?
@EUCommission no. What a joke. You should be ashamed.
@EUCommission After chatcontrol, this might be the second worst recent decision, or at least second least liked one :)
fuck off colonists
@EUCommission great! Now EVERYONE is going to know about Mastodon, and now EVERYONE is going to be on the Fediverse, just like everyone was on ʞooqǝɔɐⅎ. The entire herd of zombies is going to turn our social media into trash.
We’re all gonna have to do our part to prevent that !
@EUCommission I don't like or trust AT Protocol
@EUCommission How about, no thank you? I already have a strong, independent digital space. It's called the Fediverse. Unlike your pretend-independent, it's actually run by people for people.
@EUCommission instead of truly building a european alternative, the EC favours the same problematic model that brought us into this mess. Disappointed
@EUCommission I’ll skip it, thanks.
Was hoping for a privacy-preserving platform based on open source.
It’s fails on both those counts.
No different from X or Threads. So what’s the point?
A big nope!
Hi @t3rcermillenium! Opening an account on W helps us diversify our presence on social media platforms and reach out to as many Europeans as possible. We also welcome the development of European social media platforms. Opening an account on a new platform does not exempt it from its obligation to comply with EU legislation.
@EUCommission Are you also promoting your Mastodon account on W?
@EUCommission That’s what Mastodon provides. You’re exactly the same as X or Threads, just happen to be EU-based.
Still a big no.
@EUCommission Please continue investing in an open, decentralised and not-for-profit Web, yes! We know all too well where the alternative leads us.
@EUCommission centralized and closed source... this way, the people in control have the power to decide who to ban, censor, etc.
What's next, mandatory "age" verification all over the web?
@EUCommission
Because we are concerned about people visiting a American nazi-bar we have now come up with a solution by asking a European to build a European nazi-bar.
@EUCommission Public money, public code.
So no, I most certainly will not follow you on another closed source platform by someone trying to be the next Elon Musk.
@EUCommission
What is W? Another privately owned centralized service? Why?
@EUCommission smells like someone from Sweden had spent a lot of time in the European Commission just to join that fast a network which welcomes explicit right-wingers in their ad... i mean in the interviews. I can't remember the European Commission did something else that fast.
hi, american here
with my country in the toilet of #plutocracy and #bigotry, i look nowadays to #europe as the beacon of civilization and the free world
but this... this #W thing is billionaire #techBro shit in all the ways we despise
this is...
american
if you have an american, calling something american, in terms of the most grotesque of stereotypes as a european would consider that, well then you done fucked up
fuck " #W"
@EUCommission
Sarcasm in its purest form 😂
@EUCommission W is not an independent digital space
"A strong Europe needs independent digital spaces."
Yes.
This "W" thing is explicitly not one of those, though, is it?
RE: https://ec.social-network.europa.eu/@EUCommission/116766280029168108
This is the most "rage-baiting" post I've seen on the Fediverse thus far...
(and it is probably not fully intended)
@EUCommission The European Commission has gone rogue and has no legitimacy in my eyes.
@EUCommission no thanks, we have this already
@EUCommission Wie sage ich es freundlich? „Ihr habt sie ja wohl nicht alle!“ Ich kann nur den Kopf schütteln. Ihr habt wahrscheinlich einfach AfD und Schlimmeres verdient. Auf dass Ihr klug werden möget. Möge Gott unseren Seelen gnädig sein.
Gee... the list keeps growing:
https://eyou.social/
https://monnett.social/
https://wedium.social/
http://wsocial.eu/
Here's a wild take: fund fediverse instances instead.
@EUCommission not to be confused with Jake Paul's deodorant
@EUCommission
No W, because it's closed source, privately owned and American & Bluesky connected.
W has been dishonest in PR.
@EUCommission you had every opportunity to choose eurosky and instead chose somewhere with so many red flags, including their marketing spreading disinformation I can only hope this horrid implementation of W is a massive fail. I also wonder if this is the result of simple lobbying or outright corruption.
@EUCommission if you did your research, you would stay far away from W instead of promoting it.
@EUCommission dear EU Commission and VdL:
eurosky exists.
why go to a walled garden, isn't the sovereignty tech fund all about open source? what's so open about WSocial?
@EUCommission I'm glad you're working on getting reach, please don't abandon this place <3 I promise the w3 standards won't let you down, even if some of the people here can sometimes be a bit uh, demanding at times haha, I promise they mean well!
@EUCommission A social media with an advisory guy working at Sam Altman's eye-ball-scanning company?
"Privacy" yeah sure
I'll pass thx
@EUCommission "Open"?
Merely inventing your own, in-house, probably closed, "network" and declaring it "open" is delusional.
Federation is the *coming-together* of people's instances, joined by common purpose. That's openness in practice.
@EUCommission this is ridiculous and you’re falling for a grift EU. close your account.
@EUCommission I wonder why you push that so hard and you never mentioned or used @alugha which is here since 2014...
@EUCommission I expect "George" magazine to merge with "W" to form "Bush".
@EUCommission I’m going to stick with Mastodon. It’s nice to be part of a community that’s a bit offbeat, yet lovely and friendly.
@EUCommission
“Make Europe Great Again” pro-Kremlin fash made site?
No thanks, and take a brain dewormer.
@EUCommission Cynicism, ignorance or stupidity? 🙄🤦
@EUCommission We already have an independent digital space, with an established community, that is also open source. It’s called Mastodon. Which is where we are here, BTW. Sponsor that.
@EUCommission couldn't build your ID verification crap onto Mastodon huh? Good! 😃
@EUCommission The fact that something is European doesn't make it automatically good and ethical. We do not need another proprietary and closed platform, which welcomes AFD.
Promoting W is stupid and against the values of the EU.
Run by a handful of private companies? Closed spurce?.Yeah, right. Won't be using that.
@EUCommission
No thanks. Closed source all of a sudden and with ID verification? They can keep it.
@EUCommission EU propaganda tool.
@EUCommission How's "W" supposed to be an "open ecosystem"? Isn't it closed source software operated by a commercial company that can do whatever it wants with that platform for profit? Sell it, change rules, become people farm? bot farm? etc? " Share Twitter scenario" to put it that way?
@EUCommission
Just like waltzing into the public neighbourhood library to tell people to buy on Amazon.
@EUCommission No thanks, I wouldn't touch a proprietary, for-profit, VC-funded, surveillance capitalism, "social-media" just because you wrongly claim its' "open ecosystem"
It's so toxic by design I wouldn't even approach it wearing level A Personal Protective Equipment…
Let alone the fact it was named after Musk's nazi bar "X"…
@EUCommission how does any of what you said fit with ID requirements and closed source? Ah yes. The first step to age verification and surveillance. Got it.
@EUCommission I can't wait until it's hacked next week and all the politicians' IDs are leaked.
Or, even more likely, that they aren't because they didn't have to provide it unlike us peasants.
@EUCommission If EU Commission migrating their Bluesky account to W Social isn't a perfect example showing how European Commission has been captured by corporate interests then I don't know what is. To someone increasingly interested in democratic systems, it's so obvious to see just that. Disappointed is to say nothing.
@EUCommission I don't understand why the EU has choosen another tech bro walled garden with closed protocol, for-profit. I can only explain it to myself with the extreme lobbyism by W since Davos. How can you join their marketing blabla? What about the EU and open data?
You won't find me there. And don't spend our tax money for these for-profit guys!
@EUCommission #Fediverse with #Mastodon is all I need. Can't imagine (now) that I will register to another social media network out of the Fediverse for fun again.
Sorry, I even will not take a look.
@EUCommission
Could the European Commission clarify the rationale behind supporting a proprietary product from a private company, especially given its stated commitment to open-source software and digital sovereignty?
@EUCommission It‘s a no from me
@EUCommission Wouldn't touch W with a bargepole.
@EUCommission how bizarre to be promoting a random VC-funded social network when you've barely put the same effort into promoting Mastodon. This has a shady feeling to it.
@EUCommission Ihr seid einfach unbelehrbar. Kein Wunder, dass alle die EU für überflüssig halten.
@EUCommission No thanks, I'm not even remotely interested in joining yet another for profit startup.
What @aral says: (source https://blog.elenarossini.com/w-social-public-institutions-and-the-theater-of-european-digital-sovereignty/)
W Social, Public Institutions and the Theater of European Digital Sovereignty
@EUCommission Sorry, not going to use it. Totally fed up with the idea of more social media platforms.
@EUCommission The „W“ is for „Why tho?“. We do have a free, open, decentralised fediverse, already.
This ensuing discussion below has me asking why in general that no one complaining about EU decisions (in the western hemisphere) seems to discuss the possible corruption behind such decisions more often. Possible business winners. Possible nation victors. Surveillance state, surveillance capitalism. Favoritism. Erosion of privacy and security
@EUCommission What is this attempt to re-invent the wheel?
@EUCommission Why so much support for the company behind @wsocial.eu and none for the foundation behind @eurosky.social ?
@EUCommission as you believe Open Source and Libre software is vital for the European Digital Sovereignty, can you share the link to W source code? Are we really just changing our padlock from a US one to a european one?
Support. Libre. Software.
Support. Our. Freedom.
@EUCommission It's kind of crazy that Mastodon never got this kind of promotion and endorsement, unlike this 4 month old platform that came out of nowhere.
@EUCommission Which version is the real Open Source?
@EUCommission lol wtf is W? why would you need that when mastodon is decentralized solution
@EUCommission Well that's some nerve coming to the fediverse to adverstise a cash-grab social network
- Built on a whim in five minutes and with such pauper decentralization that it only federated with ATproto months after launch
- Gaslighting journalists by pretending to be "the first" EU network and stealing credit for decades of grassroots work
- Lobbying government officials and institutions to join to use them as ransom to get citizens to follow
- That on top of that has gone closed source
@EUCommission RE: "And we continue to invest into our presence on the Fediverse!" 👈🏻 Phew! Thank you for that!
Please, please, please, don't sacrifice the latter for the former, specially, if you'd want to keep investing with your actions, not just your words, in an "open ecosystem" where we all benefit from open, public conversations 🙏🏻😊
@EUCommission Yeah, promoting a platform that intends to become a nazi bar is certainly a good idea /s
@EUCommission I'm glad you're still on here but I will say W is not "new social media", it's just a Bluesky satellite.
@EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.
More mess to compost https://hamishcampbell.com/?s=EU
@EUCommission
Why would you use a closed-source solution from a commercial actor when the non-profit-run, open-source Eurosky exists?
@EUCommission haha
This is a joke!
Right?
Whether here on our Mastodon server, or on ATproto with new W profile 👉 @ec.europa.eu – we look forward to staying connected with you.
Une application Web privatrice développée par une société privée ? Je préfère une application Web libre développée par une organisation non mercantile.
Apparemment je ne suis pas seul à détester les boîtes noires.
Ceci écrit l’arrière-plan du site d’accueil du réseau social W me plaît bien, même si une application en WebGL devient vite gourmande en ressource.
@EUCommission How about also giving €2.5M to Mastodon, are you working on that?
@EUCommission this EU account is half troll account and half serious account. 😂
@EUCommission Why are you promoting a closed-source, for-profit network?
@EUCommission
Nobody wants European X. People want something better
well, you're making such an embarrassment of yourself, @EUCommission
it's astounding you can fall to such low and in such a stupid trap as W..
@EUCommission Trust Us With Your Feed
(hope the imbed works)
@EUCommission W...like in What... centralized again? 🤯
@EUCommission Please don't promote this. Mastodon first, Eurosky for ATProto.
@EUCommission Decentralised web, centralised everything else. But sure, welcome to W
@EUCommission No thank you. No more closed locked platforms.
@EUCommission It's just European-branded Twitter with the same kinds of money and people behind it as Twitter.
Why bother?
@EUCommission a wait list? Why is the EC actively promoting some commercial product?
You Failed.
@EUCommission wrong platform to brag about that, darling.
@EUCommission no thanks W Social is not open, has waiting lists (like all failed social networks) and is not needed. All the infrastructure exists already with ActivityPub and its numerous applications.
You can suggest W Social to host an ActivityPub technology.
@EUCommission I was on the waitlist for W but I won't be signing up. They promised to be open and all they did was take open source code and close it. That doesn't build trust and if they are willing to lie before they even launch I don't trust them with me id
I am Not in the EU, but even so, I think you and others should see https://blog.elenarossini.com/w-social-public-institutions-and-the-theater-of-european-digital-sovereignty/ @EUCommission
W Social, Public Institutions and the Theater of European Digital Sovereignty
@EUCommission
Total nonsense. Moving to a closed-source for-profit platform is definitely another dumb and weak decision. Thanks, I'll stay here on the #fediverse
@EUCommission i can follow the mastodon account even without having an account, how can i see your account on W without relying on making an account?
@EUCommission When clicking on post asks me to login/create account instead of opening the post, I know to run away.
@EUCommission we don’t need no W social network. Not when it’s based on the wrong pseudo-open standards and backed by VC money.
Mastodon and ActivityPub is what you should be endorsing as the true decentralised social network.
@EUCommission Thank you, but no thanks 
@EUCommission Mi sa un pò di sfiga
@EUCommission
Oh no, thanks. A VC-funded, closed source, falsely open social network? You can, and must, do better than endorsing it.
@EUCommission no thanks! WSocial closed BlueSky, @elena have you seen this post? ⬆️
@EUCommission W like the German „Wahrheit“ (truth)? Like…a European Truth Social?
@EUCommission No thanks, I'll stick with a true open-source, European platform.
@EUCommission do you know w social code has gone private? How that fits with the open source commitment? Are you sure there's data sovereignty on all w social stack?
@EUCommission drop AT proto. Otherwise lol, same shit again.
@EUCommission I join the others that hope that this is just an extension of the channels and that your presence on ec.social-network.europa.eu and the Fediverse stays
@EUCommission nope, we're good. Have Fun at the nazi-bar.
@EUCommission No thanks, I’ve spend years and years and tens of thousands maybe over 100K at this point on this amazing community
This is my home 🏠
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