European Commission2d ago

Open source technology is at the very heart of our digital strategy.

We've chosen the EUROPA consortium to develop a highly advanced, open language model that spans all 24 official EU languages.

We are proud to support transparent digital tools that remain freely available to researchers, creators, and public institutions in all EU countries.

Open technology benefits everyone.

More 👉 https://link.europa.eu/CygbN7

Show threadStewart X Addison
@EUCommission How does that open source strategy fit in with your recent active promotion of W social?
Jun 19 at 1:22pmWeb
Show threadJordan Maris 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 #NAFO2d ago
@sxa @EUCommission The EU is present across a number of social media sites, and are expanding their presence on the Fediverse. Do you seriously believe criticising their presence elsewhere is doing anything positive for the cause?
Show threadStewart X Addison2d ago
@jmaris in my view
when they are inexplicably putting efforts to expanding into a service with a tiny number of users (~1000 so far from what I understand) and *actively promoting their presence there* on the open-source services which seems to serve only to attempt to push publicity and adoption of that other service - while simultaneously extolling the virtues of open source - I would say "yes, criticising it helps the #openSource cause".
Mixed messaging on their channels dilute that message.
Show threadJordan Maris 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 #NAFO2d ago

@sxa No public institution has done more for the fediverse than the EU. They have literally funded almost every major fediverse project.

They have been expanding their presence here and plan to expand further in the coming months.

It is unrealistic not to expect an institution like the EU to have a social media presence on multiple platforms, including non-open ones. That doesn't change their committment to Open Source or the Fediverse.

Show threadJordan Maris 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 #NAFO2d ago

@sxa I'd encourage you to take a moment, and read the comments under the Commission's post from the perspective of the Commission.

They make us look like dogmatic lunatics who will never be satisfied with what they do.

Now ask yourself: is it worth it for them to try to satisfy a group who will never be happy with what they do even when it is good?

Show threadStewart X Addison2d ago

@jmaris I don't think I agree with the "never be satisfied". Nowhere in politics can you please everybody however in a democratic society we should be able to be openly critical of actions from such organisations who are working for the people they represent [*], which isn't the same as a "pile-on" to an individual IMHO.

It's the active promotion of a less open alternative on THIS network while pushing open source that irks me, less so their presence on #wsocial

[*] -Sadly I'm in the UK though

Show threadJordan Maris 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 #NAFO2d ago

@sxa You should absolutely be able to criticise the actions of the Commission, i'm not contesting that. I'm contesting the content of your criticism. It's unrealistic and dogmatic, and will get us nowhere.

I'll add that the Commission promoted their fediverse account on other social media sites too. It's standard practice.

This behavior isn't doing us any favours.

Show threadSisyphe Heureux2d ago
@sxa @EUCommission
I'm with @jmaris on this one. The EU moves in the right direction by promoting open source. But that doesn't mean everything will be open source from now on.
Mastodon appeals to a certain kind of user. We're more principled than the average X user and feel at home here.
But others quickly turned away from Mastodon. Giving them a European alternative like W Social, fills the gap between Mastodon and American Social Media, because it'll be more privacy focused than the latter.
Show threadStewart X Addison2d ago

@sisypheheureux Agreed (mostly [*]) - which is another reason why I personally feel Mastodon probably isn't the right audience to be actively pushing their #wsocial presence to ;-) It dilutes the good messages that many of the people on here are likely to want to hear from them.

[*] - The ID requirement still makes me nervous though from a privacy perspective though and is why I'd personally struggle to recommend it.