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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:

🔗: blog.elenarossini.com/w-social…

#FOSS #DigitalSovereignty #BigTech


W Social, Public Institutions and the Theater of European Digital Sovereignty

European public institutions are betting big on digital sovereignty and open source software. And yet they recently moved their Bluesky accounts to W Social, a private, for profit network owned by Swedish entrepreneurs that has quietly gone closed-so…
Elena Rossini
#opensource #foss #BigTech #digitalsovereignty #wsocial @Aral Balkan @European Commission

reshared this

in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

ikuturso 🇪🇺
mastodon - Link to source
ikuturso 🇪🇺
• •

them going closed source isn't that surprising and something Bluesky has chosen to make possible for themselves and others from the beginning via their licensing choices that stand in stark contrast to Mastodon's.

Personally I don't really find Eurosky all that much better because they're only contributing to the overall Bluesky ecosystem anyway and their messaging and how they are set up doesn't really make me very confident about how European they are either.

@EUCommission @aral

@Aral Balkan @European Commission
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

jose
mastodon - Link to source
jose
• •

I read your article, pretty nice investigation are you in ! - in fact I keeping reading your posts also the info and adventures from Gina too.

As always politician and big guys trying to use the miss information to achieve their stupid stuffs - It's funny and curious what EU commission statement publishes vs reality !

They think they can hide it by adding # "commented" character or as we noted here by deletion or setting as private an entire project - no cool no good no sovereignty

This entry was edited (5 hours ago)
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

tanavit
mastodon - Link to source
tanavit
• •

Once upon a time, JAVA™ was open source.

The only source whose you could be sure to have an eternal access to is the one you manage yourself, open or closed.

Opening source is mean of extending collaboration, not a guarantee of sovereignity.

An example is the French Tresor. As far as i know, it owns its computer infrastructure and has an internal computer science team. But the software is closed source.

@EUCommission @aral

@Aral Balkan @European Commission
This entry was edited (5 hours ago)
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

Saito Network
mastodon - Link to source
Saito Network
• •

Well, well, well... Who would have thought?

The good old EU bait and switch 😩

in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

spdrnl
mastodon - Link to source
spdrnl
• •
This is worrisome. Just like OOXML is not really a good format for the European open office initiative. The lobbyists are probably moving in the background.
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

Elena Rossini 🌈
mastodon - Link to source
Elena Rossini 🌈
• •

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.

🔗 : web.archive.org/web/2026061708…

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.

#privacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #EUBigTech

a screenshot of a recent LinkedIn post by W Social's co-founder Ingmar Rentzhog that reads: "Kind of cool to see Ursula von der Leyen warming up the audience for our W launch tomorrow. Posted between her G7 meetings on Instagram (today). Perfect timing." and below there is a screenshot from the video he recorded on Instagram Stories, where von der Leyen says: "Guess where I will be next Wednesday?" The W in Wednesday is the W Social logo

Kind of cool to see Ursula von der Leyen warming up the audience for our W launch tomorrow. 😉 Posted between her G7 meetings on Instagram (today). Perfect timing. | Ingmar Rentzhog

Kind of cool to see Ursula von der Leyen warming up the audience for our W launch tomorrow. 😉 Posted between her G7 meetings on Instagram (today). Perfect timing.
LinkedIn
#privacy #surveillancecapitalism #wsocial #eubigtech
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

6ff334e
mastodon - Link to source
6ff334e
• •
even without being into the background of that topic right now, everything in me screams “this is wrong” 😭
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

Elena Rossini 🌈
mastodon - Link to source
Elena Rossini 🌈
• •

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!

🔗 : clearsky.app/thomasregnier.ec.…

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


ClearSky

ClearSky - Bringing information closer to you
clearsky.app
#digitalsovereignty #openwashing #wsocial #europewashing #sovereigntywashing
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

🫧 socialcoding..
mastodon - Link to source
🫧 socialcoding..
• •

@aral @EUCommission

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..

social.coop/@smallcircles/1167…

🫧 socialcoding..

2026-06-16 12:53:24

mastodon - Link to source

@fluidlogic
I am afraid "sovereignty" has become a business-world hype cycle word, like "digital transformation" was not long ago, but has lost its shine now. Vapid marketing words that indicate where the money is, and that *must* be used to win a pitch, esp. with gov institutions. The more the better.

@Aral Balkan @European Commission
This entry was edited (3 hours ago)
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

Mel
mastodon - Link to source
Mel
• •

for fuck sake they won't ever learn!

Yesterday, I watched this video videos.assemblee-nationale.fr/… 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


Vulnérabilités systémiques dans le secteur du numérique : Table ronde sur le logiciel libre - Mercredi 6 mai 2026

- Table ronde, ouverte à la presse, sur le logiciel libre réunissant : - M. Renaud Chaput, directeur technique de Mastodon - MM. Loïc Dayot, membre du conseil d’administration de l’April, et Étienne Gonnu, chargé de mission affaires publiques - M.
videos.assemblee-nationale.fr
@Renaud Chaput
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

Lefteris T.
mastodon - Link to source
Lefteris T.
• •
do you think you can make some posts on Reddit too? Buyfromeu sub doesn't seem like it's informed about it
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

streetcoder
mastodon - Link to source
streetcoder
• •

OK, we should send some letters and organise some public "demonstration" to show that we already have a much better alternative in place.

Otherwise she and the other politicians will never know that the Fediverse is already relevant and is much more democratic and digitally independent than Bluesky/W Social could ever be.

Or maybe they already know and it's all due to lobby, but than it would be even more important.

in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

T3rc
mastodon - Link to source
T3rc
• •

@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.

#wsocial @Whatisgoingon
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

ij
mastodon - Link to source
ij
• •
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
#privacy #ageverification
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

bazkie 👩🏼‍💻 bitplanes 🎵
mastodon - Link to source
bazkie 👩🏼‍💻 bitplanes 🎵
• •

neoliberals gonna neoliberal. not a surprise at all

oh and she's also a zionist so yeah. utterly horrible person all around

in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

Sylvia
glitchsoc - Link to source
Sylvia
• •

this is just wild!

There have to be kickbacks or I can't explain it... what a saga

in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

contrasocial
mastodon - Link to source
contrasocial
• •
Of course, because the EU has never had a problem with what the US does domestically in terms of things like surveillance, information control, censorship etc, they just want to be able to do it for themselves.
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

Fabu
mastodon - Link to source
Fabu
• •
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
in reply to Fabu

Elena Rossini 🌈
mastodon - Link to source
Elena Rossini 🌈
• •
@Fabirucho Eurosky is around, based on ATproto, European infrastructure, is open source and doesn't require ID verification
@Fabu
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

Fabu
mastodon - Link to source
Fabu
• •
😄 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
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

Reverend Elvis
mastodon - Link to source
Reverend Elvis
• •
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.
#mistral
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

OddOpinions5
mastodon - Link to source
OddOpinions5
• •

I am not a programmer, at all, zero knowledge, but for 20 years, I've been listening to OS evangelicals tell me how important OS is

and you know what ?
I don't care
I really don't

and I am, among my entire circle of friends/family/coworkers, the "odd guy" who cares about stuff like this

so if I don't care, I would guess that 98% of the population doesn't care

so maybe OS evangelicals need a better message ?

in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

Hana
mastodon - Link to source
Hana
• •
We are starving 🍞💔
No f00d n0 support and d0nations have st0pped
My children are hungry and we have n0thing to feed them
Any help can save live us
chuffed.org/project/178829

Four Children One Tent No Food Please Help ..From Bombs to Hunger Help My Family Stay Alive

We are a family of six trying to survive in a small tent in Gaza
Chuffed
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

Kerplunk
mastodon - Link to source
Kerplunk
• •
EU Commission, what a massive fail,
who was paid for the move to a closed source network??? with very dubious background and board.
in reply to Elena Rossini 🌈

derptron
mastodon - Link to source
derptron
• •

This is a tactic that is getting more and more common. It's especially so in the VC funded, quick growth bullshit going on.

Crypto is a big one When I was researching blockchain a bit I bought a couple sets of Tensor cards. This was Open Source when I got it and they were still peddling themselves as Open Source last I saw after they'd quietly changed all their licenses in all their repositories.

Happens in the services too though. Hashicorp. Bait and switch.

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