European CommissionJun 17

A strong Europe needs independent digital spaces.

We believe true digital sovereignty thrives on a competitive, contestable, open ecosystem where diverse platforms co-exist.

Today, we’re expanding our presence to W, the new social media. By being on W, we want to boost alternatives and support all efforts toward a decentralised web.

And we continue to invest into our presence on the Fediverse!

Bas5d ago
Show threadEugen Rochko
@EUCommission It's kind of crazy that Mastodon never got this kind of promotion and endorsement, unlike this 4 month old platform that came out of nowhere.
Jun 17 at 4:14pmWeb
Show threadAyoJun 17
@Gargron @EUCommission What is up with this one-letter social platform naming convention 🫠
Show threadBernd Petrovitsch🔴🔴🔴♂️🏳️‍🌈🇦🇹🇪🇺Jun 17
@ayo @Gargron @EUCommission perhaps it has something to do with https://m
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrwHuqgAHFs&pp=0gcJCUACo7VqN5tD (sry, it's German - sort of at least, it's Viennese dialect ;-)
Show threadFranceska MannJun 17

@ayo @ovrim @Gargron @EUCommission

Broken link, Bernd

Show threadBernd Petrovitsch🔴🔴🔴♂️🏳️‍🌈🇦🇹🇪🇺Jun 18

@FranceskaMann @ayo @Gargron @EUCommission Yes, sorry - constructed it on the smartphone from the mobils youtube link (and obviously bad;-).

That should have been https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrwHuqgAHFs (now on the browser and verified;-)

Worried Men - Wauns a Weh brauchts - 1975

YouTube
Show threadGormfullJun 17

@ayo @Gargron @EUCommission

And why did they not call it “Y”?

Show threadI🤖RetrobotsJun 17
@Gormfull @ayo @Gargron @EUCommission yes Y?
Show threadAyoJun 17
@Wesemann @Gormfull @Gargron @EUCommission I guess they tried but were stuck in a loop of thinking they were asking “why” all the time
Show threadGormfullJun 17

@ayo @Wesemann @Gargron @EUCommission

But they could have advertised it with guts:

“Be a good citizen! After leaving, tell your X the reason: Y.”

Whereas W just sounds like: Less features, a few yet unclosed vulnerabilities and a bit outdated (although, of course, better than V!)

Show threadAyoJun 17

@Gormfull @Wesemann @Gargron @EUCommission I can imagine the brainstorming

“Folks this will be a huge W for Europe”

Show threadI🤖RetrobotsJun 17
@ayo @Gormfull @Gargron @EUCommission wait for it: the W is written as VV (Values & Verified)
Show threadgrob (teeth era) 🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Jun 17
@Wesemann @ayo @Gormfull @Gargron @EUCommission you gotta be kidding me 🙈 an unpronouncable name for a cheesy marketing gag. I'm getting a longer 10ft pole 
Show threadSvenssons Nyheter3d ago
@Wesemann @ayo @Gormfull @Gargron @EUCommission The owners ar typical small-time swedish capitalists. Y is a useless letter in Swedish. W do not really exist (there is no difference when it comes pronunciation between V and W) and so W feels like something international. I think that is about it when it comes to the name.
Show threadSean MurthyJun 18
@ayo @Wesemann @Gormfull @Gargron @EUCommission Here I was thinking 'W" is for "Why". 😔
Show threadMrGrumpyMonkey1d ago
@ayo @Wesemann @Gormfull @Gargron @EUCommission A smidge off topic, but the current KIA logo looks like a K smooshed with a backwards N. So I call them KN's now.
Show threadM Schommer 🏳️‍🌈Jun 17

@Wesemann
@Gormfull @ayo @Gargron
Because Y means, they're always behind X.

Too bad that W means, they're desperately striving to be one step ahead of X.
Amazing how they put their obsession with X even into their brand name.

Oh and @EUCommission: Congratulations. You have become a totally ridiculous shit show.

Show threadOlivierJun 17

@Gormfull my guess is "W" comes before "X" or something.

@ayo @Gargron @EUCommission

Show threadBillJun 18

@Gormfull @ayo @Gargron @EUCommission

Y not?

Sorry for the bad pun

Show threadmmu_manJun 17
@ayo @Gargron @EUCommission I guess Mastodon shall have been called "A" 🤷
Show threadFluchtkapselJun 18

@mmu_man @ayo @Gargron @EUCommission alpha.social! 😄

Cringe!

Show threadNicolas Pettiaux6d ago
@mmu_man @ayo @Gargron @EUCommission why not adding such an alias to mastodon. Something like « mastodon , the A of social networks, you know why » or « the A of social networks, mastodon. You know why ». Just ideas
Show threadpropapanda Jun 17

@ayo @Gargron

Apparently it's convention to give fascists a stage, so W is announcing its own death by making a reference to a place they left for making mistakes, which the new platform just announced to make too.

EU politics is like doomscrolling brain rot.

@EUCommission

Show threadA Part of BeeJun 18
@ayo @Gargron @EUCommission maybe we should try rebranding Mastodon/Fedi to "M servers running much of the F" or something and see if we can get a bunch of free publicity
Show threadFabianJun 18
@ayo @Gargron I'd have gone for the first letter in the alphabet so it ranks first in alphabetically sorted lists. But I do agree with the "…social [network]" description in their name
Show threadMark Burton6d ago
@ayo @Gargron @EUCommission
Maybe Mastodon should be renamed 'A'. Or 'A+'.
Show threadAdrien Plazas1d ago
@ayo @Gargron @EUCommission That's short for Wastodon. 🧄
Show threadA.A. DelafinJun 17
@Gargron Mastodon is obviously not the kind of venture capital luring tech that the EU is salivating over @EUCommission
Show threadHerman 🇪🇺🇺🇦🇾🇪🍋Jun 17
@EUCommission @Gargron @delafin Mastodon is not centrally controlled. That is the problem for the #EU. They want control, verification.
Show threadKaitoJun 18
@Herman And they don't want Jack Dorsey to have it...?
Show threadHerman 🇪🇺🇺🇦🇾🇪🍋Jun 18
@kaito02 They want the ability to control social media for themselves. If you control social media you control the political debate. When you control the political debate you control power. They apparently don’t trust grassroots communities such as on Mastodon.
Show threadLeander LindahlJun 17
@Gargron @EUCommission this!!! Pour moi, c'est comme un coup de poignard dans le dos.
Show threadGeorge SaichJun 17
@leanderlindahl @Gargron @EUCommission
D'accord.
Show threadstux⚡️Jun 17

@Gargron @EUCommission No thanks to that..

Bsky like ish software is not build with privacy in mind.. I don’t know

Show threadnyanbinary (unvalued goose)Jun 17
@stux well, in this case thats an explicit feature points at ID requirement 
Show threadgabboman the wafrn devJun 17

@stux @nyanbinary

W itself sucks ass in so many regards. Wafrn is the better W as I have said a lot of times


#wafrn-does-both-activitypub-and-atproto
Show threadstux⚡️Jun 17
@gabboman @nyanbinary I could not agree more! 
Show threadmau 🏳️‍🌈 #EndFossilFuelsJun 17
@Gargron @EUCommission Lobbying works.
Show threadGJ Groothedde 🇪🇺Jun 17
@Gargron
I agree.
@EUCommission
Show threadaltim 🇪🇺 🔒🌍🌳📰Jun 17
@Gargron Mastodon is built in a way that it can escape the grasp of a controlling government. @EUCommission
Show threadFabian【ファビアン】🏳️‍🌈Jun 17
@Gargron
You should have named it M-Social. @EUCommission
Show threadPepijnJun 17

@Gargron Well, I guess it helps that both Eurosky (which started as one giant GDPR violation and only decided to become 'european' after failing to raise millions for their global platform) and W-Social have a shocking amount of vocal support from a number of politicians that should stay far away from this.

It pains me especially to see members of the European Greens shill for them.

@EUCommission

Show thread🫧 Social coding commonsJun 17

@Pepijn @Gargron @EUCommission

This is "Old Europe" decision-making at work. Old and tired. Neo-liberal "It's all about the economy, baby" shallow-thinking Europe. The Europe where it all revolves around GDP growth, big bizz lobby groups, salivating about Unicorns and EU Big Tech. It is not the Europe where real people truly matter, but where cold metrics matter most.

In a time of momentous geopolitical shifts, we need a fresh New Europe. A European Union that dares to change, and do things that should have been done long ago. We are in times where such change is possible. Times that demand it.

And these shenanigans are examples on how to squander the opportunity that exists today.

New Europe, rise!

Show threadmonkee Jun 17
@Gargron No Bribe money no endorsement ​​

@EUCommission
Show threadVolker  🌻🟩Jun 17

@Gargron

hm, let me guess, in the ears of un-nerdy, commercial orientated people "mastodon" may sound a little bit too much like kindergarten🤷
I love it, but seeing the rolling eyes when mentioning "mastodon" say a lot 🙄

Show threadLinebylineJun 17
@frubizym @Gargron I feel you, but I also feel like, if a platform named after an extinct animal is kindergarten, a platform named after a single letter of the alphabet is somewhere between daycare and preschool.
Show threadMike StoneJun 17

@Gargron From what I've read, W is super sketchy and run by a for profit organization. That means they're either planning on selling customer data or feeding ads. No thank you very much.

@EUCommission

Show thread🇨🇦Weird Foodie🏴󠁣󠁡󠁡󠁢󠁿Jun 17

@mike @Gargron @EUCommission

They want photo ID before people can post there. It's in the last paragraph of this story:
🔗
https://www.pcmag.com/news/w-emerges-as-x-alternative-aimed-at-combating-systemic-disinformation

If I lived in Europe, I'd give them a pass.

Show threadHerman 🇪🇺🇺🇦🇾🇪🍋Jun 17
@mike @weirdfoodie @Gargron @EUCommission Control, control, control … They could have better called it C.
Show threadmartin lentink 🇪🇺 🇺🇦📎Jun 17
@mike @Gargron @EUCommission Probably both...
Show threadYohanan ✨Jun 17
@Gargron @EUCommission
I thank you @Gargron this wonderful Mastodon technology, which allowed me to create the first Italian Catholic instance. Perhaps at the European Commission, only money matters. 🙏🏼
Show threadMike FraserJun 17
@Gargron @EUCommission Wheels got greased. It's the way of things.
Show threadBenediktJun 17
@Gargron @EUCommission Mastodon doesn't have 80 VC capitalists, ordering people to promote it, I guess.
Show threadJimmothy BagginsJun 17
@Gargron @EUCommission money corrupts all.
Show threadJohn UlrikJun 17
@Gargron @EUCommission It certainly has smells of either lobbyism (or worse) or digital cluelessness (or worse) …
Show threadgroff 🇺🇦Jun 17

@Gargron @EUCommission

The EU is an economic trading block. Don't expect it to prioritise anything but profits.

Show threadMidgePhotoJun 17
@geoffl @Gargron @EUCommission
The EEC was.
Show threadLars Marowsky-Brée 😷Jun 17
@Gargron @EUCommission The new platform explicitly caters to the far right and fascists though, sooo ...
Show threadI🤖RetrobotsJun 17
@Gargron @EUCommission Did they at least offer you an account?
Show threadPatricJun 17
@Gargron
You obviously did not pay enough. 🤦
Show threadMartinJun 17
@Gargron @EUCommission It‘s not about the best technology, it’s about the best network, the best timing, the best funding.
Show threaddonamastaJun 17

@mflx @Gargron @EUCommission

I sort of understand their need to go big and fast for geopolitical reasons