After Elon Musk’s X, could Europe finally build its own social media powerhouse? In this episode, Léa Marchal explores the “W” social media platform, Anna Zeiter’s bold alternative — its ambitions, challenges, and whether Europe can truly rival US tech giants.

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.

You can find the transcript here if you prefer reading:

After X by Elon Musk, here comes “W”, or “We”, by privacy and technology expert Anna Zeiter. The “We” project was unveiled in Davos at the end of January. Its goal is to create a European alternative to X.

But this is not the first attempt to create a large-scale European social media platform.

Can it be the first one to actually succeed? Are Europeans able to compete with US platforms?

Hi, I’m Léa Marchal, and I make sure you are briefed on the most important things happening across Europe.

European tech rules are currently targeting the X platform for failing to respect digital rights, and for spreading misinformation.

The latest example: the European Commission is investigating X’s AI tool, Grok, which is accused of disseminating illegal content in the EU, such as manipulated sexually explicit images.

In December last year, Brussels had already fined X €120m for a lack of transparency.

Beyond the legal framework, the platform is also more generally accused of encouraging extremist views and of constituting a dangerous online environment for children.

This is why Anna Zeiter, who was previously chief privacy officer at eBay, has decided to launch “We” as a European alternative to X.

The platform would be based on ID verification, making it impossible to create bot accounts or fake profiles.

“Our ambition is to create a platform that embraces quality journalism, open debate, and real humans.”

The letter “W” represents two Vs: one for value, and the second for verification.

The launch is planned before the end of this year.

But what are the chances of success?

This is not the first attempt.

In 2016, a German developer created Mastodon, also aiming to replace Twitter in Europe.

Its model is based on decentralisation, open source, and moderation — three main characteristics that did not appeal to a broad audience. What users are looking for, above all, is a platform where they can find all the actors they wish to follow.

Moreover, creating a Mastodon account, which requires choosing a server, is too complex for average users.

Ten years on, Mastodon is still alive, but it counts around 11 million active users, while X has at least ten times more.

Does this mean that alternatives are not realistic?

Anna Zeiter believes they are. She is said to have convinced more than 750 investors from around 15 countries.

The system she promotes is specifically designed to fit within the EU’s legal framework.

This is probably why a disinformation campaign on X has already targeted “We”, claiming that it is a project backed by the EU — which is not the case.

However, the question of EU support, or public support more broadly, remains open. As X’s business model will clearly not be replicated, the platform’s financing is still uncertain.

At a time when the EU wants to regulate online platforms, it could also choose to invest in such initiatives — or at least show active support.

Because, as mentioned earlier, one key reason for users to switch to a new platform is the presence of prominent figures and people they already follow.

In that sense, EU institutions could decide to leave X altogether. But so far, they have not done so, fearing a loss of visibility.

With or without the EU’s backing, Anna Zeiter’s initiative could succeed, but it would require a solid business model — about which little is known so far.

There is surely an audience in Europe looking for a trusted online platform, and success does not necessarily mean matching or surpassing X’s user numbers.

And with that, we wrap up this episode.

Thanks for listening to Briefed, and see you tomorrow!