The social network W, created by a Swedish company to compete with X using a “fully European” model aligned with the EU’s technological sovereignty goals, was launched today in its testing phase.
This new platform is based on the same protocol as Bluesky, another social network created in 2019 by former Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, and was developed by W Social, a company based in Sweden and led by “a pan-European team of entrepreneurs and investors” from various sectors, according to the firm.
“We are based in Europe, we have our infrastructure and data centers in Europe, we operate under European law, and only Europeans can be shareholders in the company,” stated the chief executive officer (CEO) of W Social, Anna Zeiter, during a presentation in Brussels.
The business model of the social network W relies on two main revenue sources: advertising, in compliance with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and data protection regulations; and “micropayments” made by users, Zeiter explained.
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W places special importance on verifying the humanity of its users, as well as respecting privacy, in contrast to the bots or accounts operated by artificial intelligence (AI) that multiply across other digital platforms, and to achieve this, it relies on a separate application that allows users to identify themselves as humans without compromising their personal data.
The platform can be used without authentication (only to read and follow other users), but the verification step is strictly necessary to publish messages and interact with other users on W.
In addition, publishing under a real name allows users to have their content prioritized over the content of those who wish to remain anonymous on the platform.
All posts on the social network W are public by default on the platform, which is built on the AT-Protocol, the decentralized and open-standard protocol developed by the aforementioned Bluesky.
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The platform was opened to the public in a beta version today, after having been presented back in February at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Among the users, there are already some prominent European political figures, such as the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Council, António Costa, and the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde.
“Today, I join W, a platform where data is fully hosted in Europe, the fight against disinformation is a priority, and users are verified real people. I look forward to having more human conversations!” wrote António Costa during his debut on the social network.
This new platform begins operating after the European Commission presented, earlier this month, a set of laws to boost European cloud service companies and guarantee the supply of chips.
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All of this aims to reduce the EU’s technological dependence on American and Chinese companies, in relation to which Brussels plans to soon release a “comprehensive plan on cybersecurity and AI.”
