Must see from @euronews
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Must see from @euronews
Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?
"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"
[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."
Please share widely
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@luca
#PostOfTheWeek (season 3):
Viral posts claiming the EU is launching its own social media platform to counter X, in the wake of various scandals, are misleading.
Claims are spreading online that the European Union is building its own social media platform to replace X, with posts alleging that a new network called "W" will be funded by taxpayers and run as a censorship tool. -
@luca
#PostOfTheWeek (season 3):
Viral posts claiming the EU is launching its own social media platform to counter X, in the wake of various scandals, are misleading.
Claims are spreading online that the European Union is building its own social media platform to replace X, with posts alleging that a new network called "W" will be funded by taxpayers and run as a censorship tool.@luca
Posts, shared widely on X, claim the project is backed by Brussels, financed by taxpayers' money and designed to impose EU oversight on online speech.One post, viewed more than 60,000 times, claims that "500 million of our tax money will be spent on a censorship system in which everything is checked, corrected and eliminated".
Another, with more than 570,000 views, claims that the European Union "is releasing W".
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@luca
Posts, shared widely on X, claim the project is backed by Brussels, financed by taxpayers' money and designed to impose EU oversight on online speech.One post, viewed more than 60,000 times, claims that "500 million of our tax money will be spent on a censorship system in which everything is checked, corrected and eliminated".
Another, with more than 570,000 views, claims that the European Union "is releasing W".
@luca
But a spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W". -
@renef @inVinnieVeritas I thought you meant « Mastadon » right?
Terrible joke but that’s how the media usually spell it… it’s as if they either ignore it on purpose or completely fumble their coverage (like Radio France yesterday that ran with a piece that claimed Eugen had quit his own network out of frustration with user behavior). Excuse me, what? It’s unbelievable
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@luca
But a spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W".I know, and as I said, official communications coming from W were frankly ambiguous in this.
They let the disinformation spread and adjusted their web site a bit too late. -
Must see from @euronews
Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?
"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"
[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."
Please share widely
@_elena @euronews
Yeah, it looked weird that there was no trace of news on financing except on two or three sites. I wonder who extracted value from building this tale, besides free advertising for the yet-to-be platform.
Anyways what was told about their paradigm still holds its value, and we all are now "en garde". -
@fosdembsd Why would you say that is strange? This is exactly what should happen, organisations that want control over their communications have their own instance, but are not in control of the network.
@ahltorp @fosdembsd it is a bit strange because of the quote "the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform". Partly because the EU runs a mastodon instance (hence "not launching" is weird), and they fund(ed) I think Mastodon, goto social and possibly others through Next Generation Internet (sub)grants.
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@ahltorp @fosdembsd it is a bit strange because of the quote "the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform". Partly because the EU runs a mastodon instance (hence "not launching" is weird), and they fund(ed) I think Mastodon, goto social and possibly others through Next Generation Internet (sub)grants.
An 'instance' isn't the same as a 'platform'.
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An 'instance' isn't the same as a 'platform'.
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Must see from @euronews
Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?
"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"
[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."
Please share widely
-
Must see from @euronews
Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?
"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"
[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."
Please share widely
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The instances are all the individual / independent servers that run Mastodon, which is the platform.
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@sharan watch out you may draw the ire of Fedi enthusiasts. Maybe we can say that the Fediverse (with all its FOSS software solutions) is the only viable option?
There’s so much good stuff here, from Friendica to Sharkey, GoToSocial, PeerTube. Something for everyone
️@_elena @sharan Personally happy to draw ire from Fedi enthusiasts when it comes to government-run Social Media. Remember: social media needs to be moderated, and really the last thing that citizens should want is their government moderating speech, literally. You can (hopefully) trust your gov't now (sans USA), but what about in 10 years?
More than happy with the choice of people to choose which Fediverse instance they want to join, as long as in the end it's the Fediverse.
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R ActivityRelay shared this topic
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Must see from @euronews
Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?
"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"
[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."
Please share widely
Hmm, I didn't understand it as an EU project either. The website also states that it is a private offering in Sweden. I don't think I need “EU state television” in digital form either. So at this point, nothing is new to me.
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The mental image of journalists frantically googling this mythical beast instead of the actual platform 
