Uh, Mastodon exists?
Bye, X: Europeans are launching their own social media platform, W
Submitted 2 months ago by bossito@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://cybernews.com/tech/europe-social-media-w/
Comments
gedaliyah@lemmy.world 2 months ago
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I’m assuming they want to compete with X/Twitter.
palordrolap@fedia.io 2 months ago
... so you don't think Mastodon is a worthy competitor?
How about Bluesky?
gedaliyah@lemmy.world 2 months ago
If they built out a Mastodon network with government support, then it would.
ICastFist@programming.dev 2 months ago
will require identification and photo validation
Straight from the book “How to kill your app before launch”, page 1.
data privacy at its core
Looks like they haven’t seen the obvious conflict with requiring id + photo, unless they plan on manually review every application.
After reading the article, it sounds like they’re just making yet another xitter clone with the hopes that govt figures will use it. Govts could just spin their own mastodon or similars for a similar effect.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yup. Nothing and I say nothing makes a service less secure for privacy than requiring your ID and photo. That data will get leaked. It always does.
gian@lemmy.grys.it 2 months ago
Most of EU countries has some sort of electronic identification system (in Italy SPID and CIE). You can simply ask to validate against it when creating an account and then you are good. You are verified and there is no dato to be leaked aside the data you decide to put into the system.
bossito@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Considering the amount of bots and trolls everywhere I can see a certain appeal on an app that requires an id verification to be honest.
mbirth@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
But if they’re doing it half-assed as most services, it won’t be a challenge for AI to generate random IDs and a matching avatar for photo/video verification. The only way this could work is if they’d verify your ID by reading the NFC chip inside the passport or ID card.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
There needs to be high-quality discussion about how to make sure that users of social media platforms are humans instead of bots, but it needs to be a discussion happening in the open and not behind closed doors.
Right now, the approach is to not talk about it and assume that verification can only happen via photo. It could also be done in different ways, such as using a QR code that you get at a supermarket; or by only allowing 1 user account per physical device (which would make bot accounts expensive). There’s lots of possible ways and none of them are discussed.
architect@thelemmy.club 2 months ago
They figured it out. They damn well know they are going to spy on everyone with this.
Dekkia@this.doesnotcut.it 2 months ago
to ensure that its users are […] who they claim to be
I dont’t want that either. Maybe for verified accounts this makes sense, but not for the average shitposter.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
After reading the article, it sounds like they’re just making yet another xitter clone with the hopes that govt figures will use it.
Nothing puts me off more than advocating for a new product or set of technology without reasonably comparing it to already-existing technology. They should dedicate a section of their homepage to an explanation what’s the difference between their system and Mastodon.
friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I hate X, but good luck with this:
The new platform, W, will require identification and photo validation to ensure that its users are both humans and who they claim to be,
dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Europeans will absolutely not fight back on it and will comply willingly with zero hesitation, unfortunately
tehsillz@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Lol, what? Nobody will use this.
Eternal192@anarchist.nexus 2 months ago
Spyware disguised as a “social media platform”, hard pass.
Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
cough cough Mastodon.
@EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu
AbidanYre@lemmy.world 2 months ago
[deleted]ns1@feddit.uk 2 months ago
ec.social-network.europa.eu/@EUCommission
It has over 3k posts and 145k followers. Mastodon posts don’t federate to lemmy unless they tag a lemmy community
deathbird@mander.xyz 2 months ago
The shit some people will go to to avoid an open platform.
yetAnotherUser@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Isn’t this just some random company trying to cash in a little from controversy surrounding Xitter?
brooke592@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Yes, and stupid people are going to lap it up.
Meron35@lemmy.world 2 months ago
They named themselves W but those draconian ID requirements are an L
RedGreenBlue@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
There is no future in social media unless it’s decentralized. Gonna assume this is dead on arrival.
notsosure@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
You didn’t read the text? It says decentralized.
RedGreenBlue@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
I have little faith that means what you think it means.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
I know Europe might seem like a country of you’re illiterate, but um it isn’t. W is a Swedish company with a dumb idea at the core of its app
bossito@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Oh sorry, I forgot Sweden is in Africa. Or that referring a an as European implies that Europe is a country. Luckily there are still people like you to educate us all /s
Melusine@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 2 months ago
I am staying on mastodon for the micro blogging, not interested in centralized shit. Also, recommander systems are a plague.
architect@thelemmy.club 2 months ago
Governments making this stuff instead of the people? Really bad idea.
EightBitBlood@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Oh because people did such a good job the first time?
Anything people make, no mater how good, can and has been purchased to be turned to shit and controlled by those that purchase it. In that world, which is the one we live in now, a government made and publicly used social media service is just about the only way to create a resilient and uncorruptable form of social media. Especially compared to current alternatives that are already getting corrupted.
I’m not saying what they’ll make is perfect. But it’s far better than any other option we currently have. thKnee jerk reacting to assuming it’s bad is very much the same crux billionaires used in the US to weaken the government that would otherwise regulate them.
A government is literally the best suited to creating this tech due to its public utility. Same with electricity, water, Emergency services, roads and more. Everyone uses them, so our taxes should go to making those things better.
This is a step in the right direction.
SnoringEarthworm@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
it’s far better than any other option we currently have.
We have the Fediverse. Brother, you’re literally on it right now.
73ms@sopuli.xyz 2 months ago
This isn’t actually a government doing it. It’s just some VC backed company that went to Davos to announce it.
brooke592@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Anything people make, no mater how good, can and has been purchased to be turned to shit and controlled by those that purchase it.
GPL would like to have a word with you.
General_Effort@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Looks like W is being built on ATProto.
Croquette@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
For non-believers in that format of social media, is ATProto good or bad?
General_Effort@lemmy.world 2 months ago
The basic building block of the Fediverse is the instance, right? Every instance is its own self-contained, centralized social media service that optionally interacts with other instances. EG Trump’s Truth Social is a Mastodon instance that does not federate.
ATProto takes a more radical approach. Everything is modular. There is no instance or anything that is complete in itself. It’s more like the WWW. You can make websites in different ways. These are made findable through search engines like Google or Bing, which are not affiliated with companies offering web hosting.
ATProto takes everything apart. It tries to avoid choke points or lock-in as far as possible to thwart monopolies. You have a server that stores your data (posts, etc …), called a PDS. You can move your data to a different server. An identity provider tells others where your account is at any moment. A relay collects all the posts that people make and makes them available for further processing. This can be used to create algorithmic feeds, or moderation (aka labelling). These things are independent of each other and can be independently offered by different parties. You can pick and chose which to use, though there isn’t a whole lot of choice yet.
webkitten@piefed.social 2 months ago
Doing a pure EU PDS is great; hopefully they do a Webview too, so that moderation and trust and safety aren’t at the behest of US Bsky.
General_Effort@lemmy.world 2 months ago
That’s something that may cause some grief in Europe. Moderation in ATproto is opt-in. You don’t have to subscribe to a US moderation service or any moderation service. One will probably want someone to filter spam, harassment, or content that one finds objectionable. But moderation according to EU regulations is about removing content that other people don’t want you to see. I’m not sure if that’s going to be super popular.
veeesix@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Anna Zeiter, CEO of W, has told Bilanz.ch that W stands for “We.” Meanwhile, the first of the Vs that make up W stands for “Values,” and the second for “Verified.”
“The fact that W comes before X in the alphabet is certainly also a welcome coincidence,” Zeiter said.
Was curious if the”W” had a deeper meaning to it. Turns out it’s actually two V’s that form a “W”
aeiou@piefed.social 2 months ago
you mean it doesn’t stand for Wumbo?
ICastFist@programming.dev 2 months ago
Stupid name, vv, or vave would’ve been better. Besides, it’s not like they’ll register v.v as a domain, or even www.w.vv
veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Digital Voyeurist Values Verified
General_Effort@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Y’all will enjoy this: w-social.eu
PierceTheBubble@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
So a Mastodon ripoff, but its instances hosted by a single entity (effectively centralized): ensuring all instances residing within the European jurisdiction (allowing for full control over it). I don’t see how they genuinely believe, to have humans do the photo validation, when competing at the scale of X; especially when you run all the instances. Perhaps they could recruit volunteers to socialize the losses, as the platform privatizes the profits. Nothing but a privacy-centric approach however: said the privacy expert…
Zeiter emphasized that systemic disinformation is eroding public trust and weakening democratic decision-making … W will be legally the subsidiary of “We Don’t Have Time,” a media platform for climate action … A group of 54 members of the European Parliament [primarily Greens/EFA, Renew, The Left] called for European alternatives
It that doesn’t sound like a recipe, for swinging the pendulum to the other extreme (once more), I don’t know what does… Because can you imagine, a modern social media platform, not being a political echo chamber: not promoting extremism by use of filter bubbles, and instead allowing for deescalation through counter argumentation. One would almost start to think, for it all to be intentional: as a deeply divided population will never stand united, against their common oppressor.
73ms@sopuli.xyz 2 months ago
I think they’re automating the photo validation. The CEO mentioned something about giving back by releasing their facial recognition solution or something in the interview at Davos.
JoMiran@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
I genuinely thought this was an Onion post.
Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
Should’ve named it Y or Z. You know, like +1…
brooke592@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
If it’s not federated then it’s not a good thing.
Kissaki@feddit.org 2 months ago
The initiative to create the social media platform W is supported by an advisory board and former ministers and business representatives, primarily from Sweden.
That links to an article about ADHD medication. lol
Well, at least their second source reference makes sense.
atropa@piefed.social 2 months ago
Nah , pub is better ,talking to real persons
FirmDistribution@lemmy.world 2 months ago
only Ws in the chat, guys 😎
Checkmate, Elon Musk.
themurphy@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Should just have said it stands for Wordfeud, which would be commical.
edgemaster72@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Should’ve called it Z. Is just as good as X. In fact, is two better.
RedstoneValley@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Y tho
veeesix@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
*Comrade has entered the chat*
Etterra@discuss.online 2 months ago
But why “W”?
Kissaki@feddit.org 2 months ago
Win
I don’t know.
dust_accelerator@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
W comes before X
notsosure@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
You didn’t read the text?
Deestan@lemmy.world 2 months ago
We are?
bossito@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Hold my hand and let’s say yes together.
SavageCoconut@lemmy.world 2 months ago
This just looks like a Simpsons episode… but I don’t remember which one.
somerandomperson@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Wafrn
6nk06@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
With all the privacy issues in the past few years, it’s “dead on arrival” as they say.
Darkcoffee@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Yup. It will fail spectacularly.
artyom@piefed.social 2 months ago
If distributing child pornography can’t get people off Xitter, nothing will.
RedstoneValley@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
It will probably fail silently, if it doesn’t pick up enough momentum. * Sad failed platform noises *
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 2 months ago
W also known as useless garbage.
artyom@piefed.social 2 months ago
Any for-profit company will have to comply with this, unfortunately.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 2 months ago
But none of them ever asked me for a photo or ID.