A story in two pictures:
An article from Euractiv from July stating "Von der Leyen is expected to use her annual State of the Union speech to unveil plans for EU-wide age restrictions on social media". And then a pic of a W Social post announcing the live-stream of the EC state of the Union speech.
This is precisely why I keep speaking up about #WSocial:
We are at a dangerous turning point when it comes to online privacy and it seems that the European Commission has chosen this network because of its built-in age verification.
Truth is: even if their PDS hosts 28k accounts, only 2612 people (as of this morning) have ever published a single post or reply on W.
Their #WIdentity app is so broken, it has mostly one-star ratings on Google Play Store (yes, you read it right, the network of European digital sovereignty requires an app from Google or Apple to verify one's identity).
Most egregiously, W Social does NOT do any content moderation to rein in hate speech. I find daily examples of racist, transphobic and xenophobic posts that are simply allowed. Thankfully on the ATmosphere, people can subscribe to Bluesky, Blacksky or Northsky labelers to hide hate speech. W Social leaders believe in "free speech absolutism" and keep saying that everyone is welcome. Alice Weidel of AfD too, by the way.
I thought W Social would be in violation of the DSA for allowing these messages to stay up, but apparently they are too small of a platform for this rule to apply.
Lately W Social leaders and power users have defined fact-based criticism as "disinformation" and targeted harassment: https://aseachange.com/@elena/statuses/01M0SDV98GRDWQNFF9VHVT9J18
I'm ok with being called a liar and a bully, if my screenshots and video captures of hate speech on the platform can help bring light to this problem.
So be warned, there may be bad news coming at the EC State of the Union in September.
Dear friends,
Please gather around for a long post about #WSocial and how they are responding to critiques.
I have noticed a trend: W Social leaders and staunch supporters are describing any critical posts about the company as "targeted disinformation." Its CEO said they will soon have a technical solution in place for this. Oh?!?
🔗: https://mu.social/profile/anna.wsocial.eu/post/3mtqufy6g4s2r
I suppose the "targeted disinformation" claims are about recent posts by the likes of me and @pallenberg about troubling hate speech that is allowed on W Social.
Claims backed by hard evidence, in the form of screenshots and video captures. (I am increasingly doing screen recordings of problematic posts and interactions by W Social people because they have a tendency to delete evidence - like an infamous comment on a video by the Instutute for Remigration).
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Discrediting sources, renaming evidence as "disinformation" and creating a victim narrative has a long, storied history.
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But I'm digressing. I speak up about W Social because:
Mainstream media runs PR fluff about them;
Horrid hate speech on the platform is completely unmoderated.
W Social is currently showing the limits of free speech absolutism. Its CEO wrote: "We don’t need W to become another echo chamber."
Reminds you of something?
Atmosphere user @echna.bsky.social astutely remarked that "W Social is on an X speedrun, without ever having been like Twitter."
🔗: https://mu.social/profile/echna.bsky.social/post/3mtqlknzork2t
Bluesky, #Blacksky, and #Northsky have mechanisms in place to report hate speech - and I am super thankful for that.
As of today, I cannot report to W Social posts by their users that contain hate speech.
The W Social moderation list's only purpose is to make a distinction between verified users and bots.
Compare it with Blacksky's moderation list and be amazed (see screenshots).
What's the big deal about the lack of content moderation on #WSocial?
Well, I am haunted by some posts by their users.
A repeat offender (routinely posting racist and xenophobic posts) recently commented "Awesome news" to a newspaper article about a Palestinian family drowning in Sussex.
His profile is still up and he's followed by W Social's CEO and its co-founder Ingmar Renzhog (yes I have evidence of this, via a video capture - so even if they unfollow him or delete his account, well, I have proof of my claim).
I agree with "Echna" that W Social is on an X speedrun, allowing racist, transphobic and xenophobic posts. Evidence:
🔗: https://mu.social/profile/elenarossini.com/post/3mth3hwhvzs26
Instead of addressing these critiques head-on - and moderating hate speech - the W Social co-founders are lamenting being subjected to a "targeted disinformation" campaign.
Oh ok?
IMHO free speech absolutism ultimately only coddles far right extremists and is a very dangerous thing.
Would you call this disinformation?
Special thanks to my #GoToSocial account for allowing this message all in one go, without having to break it up in a hundred-post thread.
TL;DR: W Social is taking a dark turn real fast.
