Dear Fedi friends,

Yesterday I posted a toot about #WSocial on this account (I typically talk about them on Mastodon, but I needed more than 500 characters, so I switched here). It was widely shared and discussed.

Some of you may have missed my articles critiquing W Social. I have been following them - with a critical eye - and collecting evidence since their soft launch at Davos in January: https://blog.elenarossini.com/tag/w-social/

Anyway, some of you mistook the tone of yesterday's toot and thought I was ENDORSING signing up for an account on W Social. In reality I was being sarcastic 🙃​

I will make sure to spell out my intentions much more clearly next time.

At any rate, my latest article about them made it to Hacker News yesterday (wild) and my research has been quoted in Dutch, German and French news outlets. The tide is finally turning (from fawning PR coverage to a more distanced, critical look).

Thank you for your support as always! ❤️​

#blog

Dear Fedi friends,

Yesterday I posted a toot about #WSocial on this account (I typically talk about them on Mastodon, but I needed more than 500 characters, so I switched here). It was widely shared and discussed.

Some of you may have missed my articles critiquing W Social. I have been following them - with a critical eye - and collecting evidence since their soft launch at Davos in January: https://blog.elenarossini.com/tag/w-social/

Anyway, some of you mistook the tone of yesterday's toot and thought I was ENDORSING signing up for an account on W Social. In reality I was being sarcastic 🙃​

I will make sure to spell out my intentions much more clearly next time.

At any rate, my latest article about them made it to Hacker News yesterday (wild) and my research has been quoted in Dutch, German and French news outlets. The tide is finally turning (from fawning PR coverage to a more distanced, critical look).

Thank you for your support as always! ❤️​

#blog

Needless to say, do not sign up for W or give them your ID information no matter how simple they eventually manage to make it.

You simply don’t need to.

You’re already in a far superior – non-corporate, federated – space.

Do not sign up for W. And warn your friends.

The only time you have any power to stop this is now. If they succeed in gaining network effects, you will be as powerless to stop them as you are with X.

And yes, they’re just another venture capital funded surveillance capitalist, people farmer, and burgeoning Nazi Bar. They just happen to be based in the EU. (As Nazi Bars traditionally have been.)

#WSocial #NoWNoX #surveillance #capitalism #BigTech #VC @_elena https://mastodon.social/@_elena/116770291207686239

RE: https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/116772766839601581

"[W Social] is European in the way settler colonialism and the slave trade were European"

Very quotable.

#WSocial #quote

RE: https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/116772766839601581

"[W Social] is European in the way settler colonialism and the slave trade were European"

Very quotable.

#WSocial #quote

W is to ATproto what Gmail is to email.

#WSocial #ATproto #gmail #email @IzzyOnDroid https://floss.social/@IzzyOnDroid/116770552678253394

#Mastodon > #WSocial.

Mastodon: 100% free software. 🎉
W Social. Isn't.👎

Mastodon: Global, as all cool Internet things should be. 🌐
W Social: Eurocentrist. 🤮

Mastodon: Does not want you to hand over your passport.
W Social: Does.😡

Mastodon: No ads for 10 years.
W Social: Already threatened to introduce ads by 2027. 😂

Why should I register on W Social again? What’s the point?

#Mastodon > #WSocial.

Mastodon: 100% free software. 🎉
W Social. Isn't.👎

Mastodon: Global, as all cool Internet things should be. 🌐
W Social: Eurocentrist. 🤮

Mastodon: Does not want you to hand over your passport.
W Social: Does.😡

Mastodon: No ads for 10 years.
W Social: Already threatened to introduce ads by 2027. 😂

Why should I register on W Social again? What’s the point?

How to create an account on #WSocial in 13 easy steps:

1️⃣ choose a username
2️⃣ choose a password
3️⃣ choose your interests
4️⃣ download the #WIdentity app to your phone (two options: Apple AppStore or Google Play Store)
5️⃣ scan a QR code
6️⃣ create a PIN code
optional: enable biometrics; re-enter PIN
7️⃣ choose whether you simply want to verify that you're human or if you also want to verify your name
8️⃣ choose the verification method (automatic photo review, request a manual review or scan your passport chip)
9️⃣ scan your passport's picture page
1️⃣0️⃣ scan your passport's chip
1️⃣1️⃣ take a selfie
1️⃣2️⃣ scan a QR code to link the W Identity to your W Social account
1️⃣3️⃣ enter your PIN code

Congratulations, you're verified*!

(* for two years)

Demonstration in all its simple glory here:

📺​: https://inv.nadeko.net/Vcq4MiabpEQ

Please save this toot as reference if you ever hear somebody say that IT'S TOO COMPLICATED TO JOIN THE FEDIVERSE BECAUSE YOU NEED TO PICK A SERVER 🤡​

#SocialMedia

How to create an account on #WSocial in 13 easy steps:

1️⃣ choose a username
2️⃣ choose a password
3️⃣ choose your interests
4️⃣ download the #WIdentity app to your phone (two options: Apple AppStore or Google Play Store)
5️⃣ scan a QR code
6️⃣ create a PIN code
optional: enable biometrics; re-enter PIN
7️⃣ choose whether you simply want to verify that you're human or if you also want to verify your name
8️⃣ choose the verification method (automatic photo review, request a manual review or scan your passport chip)
9️⃣ scan your passport's picture page
1️⃣0️⃣ scan your passport's chip
1️⃣1️⃣ take a selfie
1️⃣2️⃣ scan a QR code to link the W Identity to your W Social account
1️⃣3️⃣ enter your PIN code

Congratulations, you're verified*!

(* for two years)

Demonstration in all its simple glory here:

📺​: https://inv.nadeko.net/Vcq4MiabpEQ

Please save this toot as reference if you ever hear somebody say that IT'S TOO COMPLICATED TO JOIN THE FEDIVERSE BECAUSE YOU NEED TO PICK A SERVER 🤡​

#SocialMedia

RE: https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/116770333053823108

W is for Warning.

⚠️

#WWarning #WSocial #fediverse #mastodon #BigTech #surveillance #capitalism #peopleFarming

Needless to say, do not sign up for W or give them your ID information no matter how simple they eventually manage to make it.

You simply don’t need to.

You’re already in a far superior – non-corporate, federated – space.

Do not sign up for W. And warn your friends.

The only time you have any power to stop this is now. If they succeed in gaining network effects, you will be as powerless to stop them as you are with X.

And yes, they’re just another venture capital funded surveillance capitalist, people farmer, and burgeoning Nazi Bar. They just happen to be based in the EU. (As Nazi Bars traditionally have been.)

#WSocial #NoWNoX #surveillance #capitalism #BigTech #VC @_elena https://mastodon.social/@_elena/116770291207686239

🎶 But you’ll find that nowadays, I’ve mended all my ways… Repented, seen the light and made a switch… True? Yes! 🎶

https://blog.elenarossini.com/w-social-public-institutions-and-the-theater-of-european-digital-sovereignty/

Via @foufoutos

#WSocial #Ursula

“My fear is that W Social is just another for-profit Big Tech startup that happens to be based in the EU. We don’t need that. We don’t need more European surveillance capitalists and people farmers. We need ethical alternatives working for the common good.”

– Yours truly, in @_elena’s excellent exposé on W Social.

https://blog.elenarossini.com/w-social-public-institutions-and-the-theater-of-european-digital-sovereignty/

Do read the article to the end, especially noting the bit about the composition of their board of advisors, which includes an ex-Google AI lead and an ex-Paypal Chief [Violate Your] Privacy Officer who now works at Tools for Humanity (Sam Altman’s “Sci-fi dystopia? Hold my beer…” identity farming startup that wants to scan your eyeballs).

#WSocial #EuropeWashing #PrivacyWashing #BigTech #peopleFarming #surveillance #capitalism #EU #ATProto #fediverse

Nazi Bar but make it European.

Amirite, @EUCommission?

#WSocial #EuropeWashing #NaziBar #surveillance #capitalism

RE: https://ec.social-network.europa.eu/@EUCommission/116766280029168108

X but make it W.

#EuropeWashing #WSocial #EUCommission #BigTech #VC #peopleFarming #surveillance #capitalism

RE: https://mastodon.social/@_elena/116764738020685078

Clueless or corrupt, you decide.

#EU #UrsulaVonDerLeyen #WSocial #EuropeWashing #BigTech

RE: https://mastodon.social/@_elena/116764738020685078

Clueless or corrupt, you decide.

#EU #UrsulaVonDerLeyen #WSocial #EuropeWashing #BigTech

Phrase of the day: Corporate capture.

#WSocial

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.

🔗 : https://web.archive.org/web/20260617083436/https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rentzhog_kind-of-cool-to-see-ursula-von-der-leyen-ugcPost-7472769475885461504-hwct/

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