{"id":11827,"date":"2026-09-30T15:37:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T13:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/?post_type=hbi-news&#038;p=11827"},"modified":"2026-10-14T18:49:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T16:49:41","slug":"could-the-european-platform-w-social-be-an-alternative-to-x","status":"publish","type":"hbi-news","link":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-news\/could-the-european-platform-w-social-be-an-alternative-to-x\/","title":{"rendered":"Could the European Platform W Social Be an Alternative to X?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Established social networks like X sometimes promote polarizing content. Since June 2026, the social media network W Social has offered a European alternative that takes a different approach.<\/p>\n<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.br.de\/nachrichten\/netzwelt\/wie-die-europaeische-plattform-w-social-x-ersetzen-will,VWh5bAu\">Z\u00fcndfunk magazine on Bayern 2<\/a>, media researcher <a href=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/employee\/jan-rau\/\">Jan Rau<\/a> explains, &#8220;We know that the way major platforms like X operate sometimes promotes content designed specifically to stir up conflict and evoke negative emotions. And that, of course, is an unpleasant way to interact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>W Social promises greater data protection, less hate and disinformation, and a ban on bots. Users must verify their identity with an ID document when signing up.<\/p>\n<p>However, a European platform alone does not automatically guarantee better data protection. Jan Rau points out: &#8220;Even data stored on European servers using only European software may have been collected excessively.&#8221; Therefore, it&#8217;s not just where data is stored that matters, but also how it is handled.<\/p>\n<p>For European platforms like W Social to become a viable alternative in the long term, Jan Rau says there needs to be momentum across society as a whole. This includes government support, research projects, and users willing to switch to new platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1345,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11827","hbi-news","type-hbi-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.6 (Yoast SEO v28.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Could the European Platform W Social Be an Alternative to X? - Leibniz-Institut f\u00fcr Medienforschung Hans-Bredow-Institut<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-news\/could-the-european-platform-w-social-be-an-alternative-to-x\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Could the European Platform W Social Be an Alternative to X?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Established social networks like X sometimes promote polarizing content. 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