An initiative aimed at the heart of Silicon Valley’s dominance…
DAVOS, Switzerland — Europe just rolled out a new social media challenger — one that’s taking direct aim at Elon Musk’s digital empire.
Its backers used this year’s World Economic Forum to unveil a new social media platform called W, billing it as a European alternative to Musk’s X (formerly Twitter).
The platform debuted Tuesday at an event on the sidelines of the Davos summit, though it initially drew limited attention as President Donald Trump’s refusal to rule out the use of military force to acquire Greenland dominated global headlines.
The platform, known as W, is built on verified, photo-identified users and an emphasis on trusted sources, with hosting and oversight remaining under European control. It is backed by an advisory board that includes former ministers and business leaders, most of whom are based in Sweden. According to CyberNews, the two Vs in W stand for “values” and “verified.”
Supporters say this could dramatically reduce bots, fake accounts, and coordinated disinformation — a sharp contrast with X’s culture of pseudonymous posting.
W’s founders also say that user data will be stored and processed entirely within Europe under EU privacy laws, giving regulators more leverage and users clearer protections.
PCMag.com has additional details on the latest competition between Europe and the United States:
President Trump’s scattershot approach to communication and policy in the last year has led to consternation among European allies. While the politicians figure out how to salvage diplomatic relations, many Europeans are keen to regain control over some of the digital spaces they use to discuss these issues. Many have moved on from platforms like X and Instagram, but even the alternatives such as BlueSky and Reddit are US-controlled. W is designed to remain squarely under European ownership. (Meanwhile, Mastodon, another rival to X, is transitioning to a new European nonprofit structure after initially operating as nonprofit in Germany.)
The venture was announced by its CEO, Anna Zeiter, who recently left her job as chief privacy officer at eBay. “There is an urgent need for a new social media platform built, governed, and hosted in Europe. With human verification, free speech, and data privacy at its core,” she says.
“Across Europe and beyond, systemic disinformation is eroding public trust and weakening democratic decision-making,” she adds. “Many see the problem. Far fewer are helping shape what comes next.”
Available at wsocial.eu, the site is only open to early testers; you need a code to access it, and there are no mobile apps yet.
The debut comes just days after 56 members of the European Parliament demanded alternatives to Big Tech social platforms. In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, they slammed X as “a deepfake pornography website” and “a one-way broadcast system for Musk himself.”
But W faces a brutal reality: getting people to leave established platforms is notoriously difficult — and X still claims hundreds of millions of users worldwide.
For now, W’s backers say the mission isn’t just to compete — it’s to offer Europeans a genuine alternative.
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It does not thrive without actual freedom of speech and arresting people and jailing them for posts will not make people sign up.