#WSocial will open up their beta program today… and I have a SCOOP for you: it appears that they have quietly gone closed-source!
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This was definitely NOT on my bingo card for this year:
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen taking a moment between G7 meetings to promote the launch of the closed-source, for-profit network #WSocial.
I fear this may be a harbinger of things to come: MANDATORY AGE VERIFICATION for social media across Europe. I hope I'm wrong on this.
@_elena please, my European friends, you mustn't comply.
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Latest SCOOP on #WSocial:
The European Commission Spokesperson for tech sovereignty Thomas Reigner just migrated his ATproto account from Bluesky (open source) to W Social (closed-source). How ironic!
: https://clearsky.app/thomasregnier.ec.europa.eu/profile And now excuse me as I go pick up my child from daycare. I'll be intermittently online for the rest of the day. Thank you for all your boosts and comments!
#DigitalSovereignty #OpenWashing #EuropeWashing #SovereigntyWashing
@_elena for fuck sake they won't ever learn!
Yesterday, I watched this video https://videos.assemblee-nationale.fr/video.18843051_69fb3ac192f70.vulnerabilites-systemiques-dans-le-secteur-du-numerique--table-ronde-sur-le-logiciel-libre-6-mai-2026 with @renchap where he explained how public administrations just want an access to the service, not operate it and it grinds my gear so fuckin much
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#WSocial will open up their beta program today… and I have a SCOOP for you: it appears that they have quietly gone closed-source!
This is ironic, considering that the @EUCommission just unveiled their Tech Sovereignty Package, emphasizing the importance of #OpenSource. And yet they have migrated their main ATproto accounts to W Social - whose code can no longer be inspected!
My full article - with a great analysis by @aral:
@_elena @EUCommission @aral W Social has all the checkmarks for a scam to collect public funding...
Please use the money to found open source project that actually do work for all europeans (and humanity in general).
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@_elena she must be getting a cut or something, right?
@sanzky @_elena It's Ursula von der Leyen. Here in Germany, she epitomizes - perhaps more than anyone else - a combination of corruption and utter incompetence.
She has never won a single popular vote anywhere - quite the opposite: she lost constituencies that had previously been considered safe seats for her party - and has built her entire career exclusively on her corrupt networks, while scandals would always catch up with her just in the nick of time, before she was promoted to the next post -
S strit@mastodon.social shared this topic
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@_elena please, my European friends, you mustn't comply.
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@Mabande I think it's more just being clueless and wsocial being very well politically connected so they are able to convince these politicians to do this. It was evident this was their stategy from day one with the announcement at Davos etc. but I wouldn't necessarily have bet on them being this successful with it.
Ultimately this might still not mean that much though.
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Unbelievable, and really disheartening. What a farce. I just commented yesterday that "sovereignty" had become this new fad, a business buzzword to indicate where the low-hanging revenue is for the big enterprises, like earlier the hollow phrase of "digital transformation" (digital transformation for the purpose of what?). This more anecdotal proof that this is indeed the case..
@smallcircles @_elena You can find two excellent discussions of the term "digital sovereignty" in these threads (beware, it’s in German):
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#WSocial will open up their beta program today… and I have a SCOOP for you: it appears that they have quietly gone closed-source!
This is ironic, considering that the @EUCommission just unveiled their Tech Sovereignty Package, emphasizing the importance of #OpenSource. And yet they have migrated their main ATproto accounts to W Social - whose code can no longer be inspected!
My full article - with a great analysis by @aral:
@_elena @EUCommission @aral hmm. I get it is not great. But is it better than meta? Most of my family and friends use meta services. So if it could be an alternative I could leave meta for a better option. Even though it isnt perfect
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@smallcircles @_elena You can find two excellent discussions of the term "digital sovereignty" in these threads (beware, it’s in German):
@frumble thank you!
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#WSocial will open up their beta program today… and I have a SCOOP for you: it appears that they have quietly gone closed-source!
This is ironic, considering that the @EUCommission just unveiled their Tech Sovereignty Package, emphasizing the importance of #OpenSource. And yet they have migrated their main ATproto accounts to W Social - whose code can no longer be inspected!
My full article - with a great analysis by @aral:
@_elena @EUCommission @aral The same nonsense we saw with #Mistral. It says on the official Wikipedia page that it’s down to Google, Meta and the usual hedge funds. Then billions are thrown at it; Mistral is utterly incompetent – in other words, rubbish. But everyone made money. I reckon there’s no getting round reading Rosa Luxemburg’s *The Accumulation of Capital*. That’s what it’s always about. Always.
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@_elena for fuck sake they won't ever learn!
Yesterday, I watched this video https://videos.assemblee-nationale.fr/video.18843051_69fb3ac192f70.vulnerabilites-systemiques-dans-le-secteur-du-numerique--table-ronde-sur-le-logiciel-libre-6-mai-2026 with @renchap where he explained how public administrations just want an access to the service, not operate it and it grinds my gear so fuckin much
-
This was definitely NOT on my bingo card for this year:
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen taking a moment between G7 meetings to promote the launch of the closed-source, for-profit network #WSocial.
I fear this may be a harbinger of things to come: MANDATORY AGE VERIFICATION for social media across Europe. I hope I'm wrong on this.
@_elena @themipper When I first heard about #wsocial, I had high hopes of a genuine European, privacy-preserving, open source solution.
Fool me.
Definitely won’t be joining.
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#WSocial will open up their beta program today… and I have a SCOOP for you: it appears that they have quietly gone closed-source!
This is ironic, considering that the @EUCommission just unveiled their Tech Sovereignty Package, emphasizing the importance of #OpenSource. And yet they have migrated their main ATproto accounts to W Social - whose code can no longer be inspected!
My full article - with a great analysis by @aral:
@_elena
Etwas für Euch? @evawolfangel @sveckert -
This was definitely NOT on my bingo card for this year:
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen taking a moment between G7 meetings to promote the launch of the closed-source, for-profit network #WSocial.
I fear this may be a harbinger of things to come: MANDATORY AGE VERIFICATION for social media across Europe. I hope I'm wrong on this.
@_elena It is coming to the UK. They say for new accounts #ageverification will be necessary. Old accounts will become valuable, think twice before closing them. Old account credentials will become valuable too I should think. Set up 2FA. #privacy
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#WSocial will open up their beta program today… and I have a SCOOP for you: it appears that they have quietly gone closed-source!
This is ironic, considering that the @EUCommission just unveiled their Tech Sovereignty Package, emphasizing the importance of #OpenSource. And yet they have migrated their main ATproto accounts to W Social - whose code can no longer be inspected!
My full article - with a great analysis by @aral:
@_elena @EUCommission @aral quite concerning and dissapointing
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@_elena @EUCommission @aral hmm. I get it is not great. But is it better than meta? Most of my family and friends use meta services. So if it could be an alternative I could leave meta for a better option. Even though it isnt perfect
@Fabirucho Eurosky is around, based on ATproto, European infrastructure, is open source and doesn't require ID verification
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@_elena @EUCommission @aral W Social has all the checkmarks for a scam to collect public funding...
Please use the money to found open source project that actually do work for all europeans (and humanity in general).
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Latest SCOOP on #WSocial:
The European Commission Spokesperson for tech sovereignty Thomas Reigner just migrated his ATproto account from Bluesky (open source) to W Social (closed-source). How ironic!
: https://clearsky.app/thomasregnier.ec.europa.eu/profile And now excuse me as I go pick up my child from daycare. I'll be intermittently online for the rest of the day. Thank you for all your boosts and comments!
#DigitalSovereignty #OpenWashing #EuropeWashing #SovereigntyWashing
@_elena do you think you can make some posts on Reddit too? Buyfromeu sub doesn't seem like it's informed about it
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@Fabirucho Eurosky is around, based on ATproto, European infrastructure, is open source and doesn't require ID verification
@_elena
oh no. In a year or two everything requires ID verification. You want to open a fridge to get a beer. ID control. You use the lighter. Boom age verification. It is just satire (for now) but it is getting out of hand -
@sanzky @_elena It's Ursula von der Leyen. Here in Germany, she epitomizes - perhaps more than anyone else - a combination of corruption and utter incompetence.
She has never won a single popular vote anywhere - quite the opposite: she lost constituencies that had previously been considered safe seats for her party - and has built her entire career exclusively on her corrupt networks, while scandals would always catch up with her just in the nick of time, before she was promoted to the next post@derZeitreiser @sanzky @_elena
Her getting her current job was one of the bigger political #WTF moments of the previous decade.
