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A new social media platform linked to the World Economic Forum and the European Commission is launching in Brussels this Wednesday.
W Social, which explicitly aims to replace Elon Musk’s X in the European Union, is hosting a public event celebrating the start of its public beta in the Press Club Brussels, located minutes away from the European Parliament, Commission and Council buildings.
“W, first introduced during the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year, will unveil its Public Beta version in Brussels, from the heart of the European Union,” a press release for the event says.
The new platform will require that all users verify their identity before joining, with its website emphasising compliance with the EU’s censorious Digital Services Act.
“At a time when bots, fake accounts, AI-generated manipulation and coordinated disinformation are reshaping public debate online, W aims to offer a new approach to digital public discourse,” it claims.
“The platform combines free expression, accountability, privacy and human verification. It is hosted on European infrastructure and governed under European privacy laws considered among the strongest in the world.”
The platform also claims that a “high-level guest from the European Commission” will speak at the launch, and that all attendees will be treated to “drinks and snacks” afterwards.
Initially announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, W has explicitly billed itself as a European response to Elon Musk’s X, claiming that it will be looking to “free” the style of platform from the tech trillionaire’s right-wing politics.
W is heavily linked to another Brussels-aligned company, ‘We Don’t Have Time’, a media outlet focused on climate change that is partnered with numerous companies, including Salesforce, Nestlé and Unilever.
It has also been warmly received by the Brussels institutions, with a transparency register for the new company revealing that it met with members of the cabinet of the EU’s VP for tech, Henna Virkkunen.
Virkkunen has been one of many Commissioners involved in pressuring American tech firms to obey the EU’s censorship rules, explicitly singling out X in January for allegedly hosting “illegal content”.
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