<![CDATA[Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January?]]>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 and it's a fork of . 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:

https://blog.elenarossini.com/w-social-uncovered-the-reality-behind-the-hype/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/f1b23ef4-420f-4986-ac43-322e26f2b028/do-you-remember-the-surprise-announcement-of-a-new-social-network-in-davos-this-past-januaryRSS for NodeThu, 14 May 2026 03:40:24 GMTFri, 08 May 2026 05:41:02 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 10:13:17 GMT]]>@castrillo thanks! there were so many revelations in the days following the announcement. I documented all the blunders and missteps in a folder called "W social horror show" - which had to be organized with subfolders because I had over 60 screenshots 🫠

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538421917845842https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538421917845842Fri, 08 May 2026 10:13:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 10:12:59 GMT]]>@_elena would it make even worse for me... And would show just again, that this platform is not interested in real sovereignty.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/feyter/statuses/116538420739784034https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/feyter/statuses/116538420739784034Fri, 08 May 2026 10:12:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 10:11:17 GMT]]>@ziclaud excellent point! I had completely forgotten about them

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538414039231131https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538414039231131Fri, 08 May 2026 10:11:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 10:10:33 GMT]]>@_elena also, BeReal is French

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/115949224255046468/statuses/116538411175843640https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/115949224255046468/statuses/116538411175843640Fri, 08 May 2026 10:10:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 10:01:13 GMT]]>@_elena maybe with all that money they outsourced the development/programming?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116155612437593224/statuses/116538374428321321https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116155612437593224/statuses/116538374428321321Fri, 08 May 2026 10:01:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:59:24 GMT]]>@mick OMG 🀯😱

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538367279221595https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538367279221595Fri, 08 May 2026 09:59:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:58:43 GMT]]>@_elena πŸ™ˆ

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116155612437593224/statuses/116538364635795042https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116155612437593224/statuses/116538364635795042Fri, 08 May 2026 09:58:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:58:33 GMT]]>@_elena we have one of these too! https://gandersocial.ca

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mick/statuses/116538363943446962https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mick/statuses/116538363943446962Fri, 08 May 2026 09:58:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:58:17 GMT]]>@hannes99 yes and they have 125 million dollars in funding by crypto bros (Blockchain Capital and Bain Crypto Capital). Who can beat that? πŸ™Š

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538362939970049https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538362939970049Fri, 08 May 2026 09:58:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:57:21 GMT]]>@_elena Doing the Lord's Work (TM) -- awesome.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/jzb/statuses/116538359234509956https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/jzb/statuses/116538359234509956Fri, 08 May 2026 09:57:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:56:14 GMT]]>@Gina πŸ₯°πŸ˜˜

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538354864559640https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538354864559640Fri, 08 May 2026 09:56:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:54:52 GMT]]>@_elena πŸ”₯πŸ”₯πŸ”₯

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/Gina/statuses/116538349471701198https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/Gina/statuses/116538349471701198Fri, 08 May 2026 09:54:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:53:21 GMT]]>@_elena true. At least Bluesky/AT Proto is a solid (while US BigTech) basis. And apparently in their entire team is only ONE 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 team is marketing, finance and fundraising experts.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116155612437593224/statuses/116538343505044773https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116155612437593224/statuses/116538343505044773Fri, 08 May 2026 09:53:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:51:09 GMT]]>@feyter I think they are betting on mandatory age verification in Europe... which would give them a leg up over Eurosky

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538334893676164https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538334893676164Fri, 08 May 2026 09:51:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:50:22 GMT]]>@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

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538331816658922https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538331816658922Fri, 08 May 2026 09:50:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:49:18 GMT]]>@m4lvin thank you! ❀️

that was the main goal: use this piece as reference anytime someone brings up W Social and some myths about it

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538327597221432https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538327597221432Fri, 08 May 2026 09:49:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:43:35 GMT]]>@hannes99 I'd venture to say that Wedium is FAR shadier because it's not based on an open protocol...

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538305104770416https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_elena/statuses/116538305104770416Fri, 08 May 2026 09:43:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:39:27 GMT]]>@_elena Its goal is to promote you carrying an agent around to spy on you.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.au/ap/users/116264423836711051/statuses/116538288835808761https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.au/ap/users/116264423836711051/statuses/116538288835808761Fri, 08 May 2026 09:39:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:26:52 GMT]]>@_elena

"Its founders have ties with European politicians"

Apparently also including the German data protection representative Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider 😏

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesbeauftragter_f%C3%BCr_den_Datenschutz_und_die_Informationsfreiheit

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116155612437593224/statuses/116538239389978707https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116155612437593224/statuses/116538239389978707Fri, 08 May 2026 09:26:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:25:13 GMT]]>@hannes99

@_elena

We don't want monetization. That's why we're in the Fediverse. Some people (avoiding name-calling here) want monetization. WSocial is for them.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.tchncs.de/ap/users/115592643165869492/statuses/116538232892894187https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.tchncs.de/ap/users/115592643165869492/statuses/116538232892894187Fri, 08 May 2026 09:25:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:19:41 GMT]]>@_elena more mess to compost, it's a signal-to-noise issue that makes these people evil... left to themselves they are pointless so not much of a problem.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kolektiva.social/users/witchescauldron/statuses/116538211158005392https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kolektiva.social/users/witchescauldron/statuses/116538211158005392Fri, 08 May 2026 09:19:41 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:09:02 GMT]]>@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

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/mellifluousbox/statuses/116538169290895508https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/mellifluousbox/statuses/116538169290895508Fri, 08 May 2026 09:09:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:06:14 GMT]]>@_elena also see https://infosec.exchange/@adfichter/116533797319369553

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116155612437593224/statuses/116538158226082588https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116155612437593224/statuses/116538158226082588Fri, 08 May 2026 09:06:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? on Fri, 08 May 2026 09:05:37 GMT]]>@_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.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.green/users/gimulnautti/statuses/116538155824061858https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.green/users/gimulnautti/statuses/116538155824061858Fri, 08 May 2026 09:05:37 GMT