As W’s founders pitch a “bot-free” alternative to Elon Musk’s X, they now face the brutal test of proving their business model can actually hold up in the real world.
Léa Marchal
Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.
EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.
Find the full transcript below:
On Wednesday, the new social media platform W launched its beta version. It is said to already have 55,000 users worldwide, and it is already backed by 80 European investors.
What does W offer that existing platforms don’t?
Hi, I’m Léa, and this is Briefed, your daily European podcast.
“We are giving away our data, our revenue, and our attention to foreign companies that give us, in return, content, but also disinformation.”
Anna Zeiter is the founder and CEO of W Social. On Wednesday, she presented, together with co-founder Ingmar Rentzhog, the new platform W Social.
I already talked about this initiative on this podcast back in February. I was asking whether a European platform can actually compete with X.
I have to say I still don’t have the answer. I attended the launch in Brussels, where the core team showed a live demo of the platform. So far, it looks promising, but a few questions remain open.
What does it look like?
Like X, basically.
For those of you who are curious, you will need to wait a bit. The platform is registering beta users step by step through invitation links. You can already join the waiting list online.
And what will you find there?
A typical social media platform with its own feed. But what W is selling is the idea that no content you see is generated by a bot.
Basically, if you want to interact in any way on the platform, even by liking a post, you need to prove that you are human and that you are over 18.
The challenge now will be to make sure the verification system is not easy to crack.
It also remains to be seen how users will be prevented from creating multiple accounts or lying about their identity on the platform, because the ID check is done on an independent platform, which deletes your personal data right after the verification is done.
Other than that, the feed is, by default, filled with the content that gets the most interaction. But you can filter it by country or topic.
What about disinformation? That’s the question I asked the co-founders, to which they replied that they are committed to respecting every EU rule on data protection and digital services.
They are planning both reactive and proactive moderation, with staff checking posts that have been flagged, and potentially an AI tool searching for illegal content.
They do, however, want to be careful about respecting freedom of speech, co-founder Ingmar Rentzhog told me:
“But if someone posts something that is not true, we’re not the police. Truth is something we debate; we need to allow different opinions. Personally, I’m very involved in climate issues, but if you’re a climate denier, you are absolutely welcome on W to debate them.”
Now, will people show up on the platform?
Time will tell.
If we look at other local examples, such as China and Russia, they have been quite successful.
Weibo, which is the Chinese equivalent of X, is said to have over 600 million monthly active users.
In Russia, the platform VK also attracts a large audience, with around 75 million monthly active users.
For now, W wants to attract people who are interested in trusted content on the one hand, and who want to move away from Elon Musk’s platform on the other.
Yesterday, the think tank Europe MediaLab presented the label “Trusted European Platforms,” which aims to identify and promote digital platforms that align with values such as transparency, data protection, and digital sovereignty.
W would surely be one of them. It now needs to prove that it can develop a relevant platform and attract sufficient investors and advertisers.
