Europe goes out to fight with Elon Musk: W seeks to be the alternative option for X

Announced in January in Davos, W, which chose its name as a nod to X (the next letter of the alphabet), hopes to rival the American network by capitalizing on trust.

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The initiative has received the support of several European personalities, including the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, who published his first message on W celebrating “a platform in which data is hosted entirely in Europe.”

At W, Costa added, “the fight against misinformation is a priority and all users are verified human beings.”

The new network, based in Sweden, requires its members to prove their identity at the time of registration (by scanning their passport or ID card through a separate application), in order to ensure that they are really human, although they can then use a pseudonym to communicate.

Whether it is W, eYou or Eurosky, an independent social media access platform that opened in mid-April, European initiatives are flourishing.

Bulle, which defines itself as a “healthy social network,” was launched in January, while Monnett, an alternative between TikTok and Instagram, must launch its definitive version at the beginning of July.

The sector is largely dominated in Europe by American and Asian giants.

Facebook and Instagram, subsidiaries of the Meta group, have 259 million users in the EU, ahead of TikTok (135.9 million) and X (115.1 million), according to their statements to the European Commission.

“Social networks come from countries outside Europe. We give them our money, our data and our attention,” said Anna Zeiter, the head of W, when presenting this new tool.