SCOOP: #WSocial is doctoring metrics on its homepage, inflating the number of comments on posts by prominent people on its network.

I suppose a more accurate tagline for them should be "Trust your feed?"

My article about it: "W Social, Fictional Metrics and the Beauty of Open Data"

🔗 : blog.elenarossini.com/w-social…

#blog #BigTech #EUBigTech #TEP #TrustedEuropeanPlatforms #TrustYourFeed

This Saturday (June 27th) at 1pm come join our protest march from the Vancouver Art Gallery to City Hall, and let our government know what we think about short-sighted tech developments.

This earth is worth infinitely more than a few dollars in the pockets of corporations

#vanpoli #vancouver #cdnpoli #bcpoli #NoAI #DataCentres #BigTech

I agree on the gist, but with a twist. The control is in sustainable and healthy evolution of the protocol, which in turn will stimulate organic growth.

I am also a dreamer, and in my dream ActivityPub remains commons based, of the people by the people. I'd love to see Pixelfed and Loops and many other fedi services to gain adoption by millions and billions, because you and those others share value alignment. We dream collectively of making the world a better place.

Unfortunately #ActivityPub isn't commons based at the moment. At this point in time every increase in popularity of the fediverse is an attractor of commercial interests. Large #FOSS platforms prove that there is a market. And very large platforms become a threat to established #BigTech players, who are then forced to act.

Contrary to perhaps you and others, I don't think that corporate capture and takeover can be avoided once Big Tech giants decide to go all-in and throw billions bucks, 1,000's employees at it.

Needless to say, do not sign up for W or give them your ID information no matter how simple they eventually manage to make it.

You simply don’t need to.

You’re already in a far superior – non-corporate, federated – space.

Do not sign up for W. And warn your friends.

The only time you have any power to stop this is now. If they succeed in gaining network effects, you will be as powerless to stop them as you are with X.

And yes, they’re just another venture capital funded surveillance capitalist, people farmer, and burgeoning Nazi Bar. They just happen to be based in the EU. (As Nazi Bars traditionally have been.)

#WSocial #NoWNoX #surveillance #capitalism #BigTech #VC @_elena mastodon.social/@_elena/116770…

#WSocial: "We want to promote European digital sovereignty. We're made in Europe, for the world!"

@EUCommission: "A strong Europe needs independent digital spaces. Today, we’re expanding our presence to W."

W Social: "You need to verify your identity. Please download our #WIdentity app from Apple's App Store or Google's Play Store"

No further comment necessary.

Check for yourselves (04:30): inv.nadeko.net/Vcq4MiabpEQ

#BigTech #OpenWashing #EuropeWashing #SovereigntyWashing

“My fear is that W Social is just another for-profit Big Tech startup that happens to be based in the EU. We don’t need that. We don’t need more European surveillance capitalists and people farmers. We need ethical alternatives working for the common good.”

– Yours truly, in @_elena’s excellent exposé on W Social.

blog.elenarossini.com/w-social…

Do read the article to the end, especially noting the bit about the composition of their board of advisors, which includes an ex-Google AI lead and an ex-Paypal Chief [Violate Your] Privacy Officer who now works at Tools for Humanity (Sam Altman’s “Sci-fi dystopia? Hold my beer…” identity farming startup that wants to scan your eyeballs).

#WSocial #EuropeWashing #PrivacyWashing #BigTech #peopleFarming #surveillance #capitalism #EU #ATProto #fediverse

#WSocial will open up their beta program today… and I have a SCOOP for you: it appears that they have quietly gone closed-source!

This is ironic, considering that the @EUCommission just unveiled their Tech Sovereignty Package, emphasizing the importance of #OpenSource. And yet they have migrated their main ATproto accounts to W Social - whose code can no longer be inspected!

My full article - with a great analysis by @aral:

🔗: blog.elenarossini.com/w-social…

#FOSS #DigitalSovereignty #BigTech

"Even if only a small percentage of the people who use your product experience harm as a result, if your product is intended for widespread deployment (as chatbots are), you will end up harming a lot of people..." - @pluralistic

This is an incredibly important point, because it's the completely accepted principle of responsibility that the tech world has built its success upon being exempt from.

This has to change.

#it #tech #business #BigTech

Cory Doctorow

2026-06-04 07:12:51

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Delusion as a service; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2026/06/04/mis…

#Pluralistic

1/

Pluralistic: Delusion as a service (04 Jun 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Pluralistic: Delusion as a service (04 Jun 2026)

^{Cory Doctorow (Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow)}

Researchers found that writers using biased AI agents to auto-complete suggestions had their sociopolitical values shifted without their knowledge it was happening.

science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv…

We worry about cognitive capture, what the LLMs of big tech are doing to our ability to identify and think through problems. We should be equally worried about them making a grab for our ethos, what we care about, and at population scales.

#ai #bigtech #ethics

We must change the system so that companies like Palantir don’t get their hands on UK public services.

Hitching our wagon to proprietary systems makes it punitive to change providers and leaves us vulnerable to foreign interference.

If we back open source, everything from the NHS to defence is more secure.

Sign the petition ⬇️

you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions…

#digitalsovereignty #palantir #nhs #bigtech #tech #ukpolitics #ukpol

MPs want Palantir OUT of the NHS and the UK public sector!

ORG has long warned about our dependency on Big Tech – from vendor lock-in to security risks from foreign-owned companies.

Chi Onwurah MP has echoed our call for Digital Sovereignty to ensure we have control over our critical infrastructure.

Read more ⬇️

theregister.com/software/2026/…

#digitalsovereignty #palantir #nhs #bigtech #tech #ukpolitics #ukpol

"Nervous NatSec hawks, ambitious entrepreneurs and technologists, furious digital rights activists. We’re on the same side. What stands in our way?

A prodigious technical challenge, that’s what. But that’s the kind of challenge we’re good at solving..." - @pluralistic

#tech #BigTech #resist #enshittification

Shawn Hooper (he/him) 🇨🇦

2026-06-02 23:10:17

Great read from @pluralistic in The Walrus.

thewalrus.ca/the-internet-has-…

#tech #governance #privacy #enshittification

The Internet Has Become Too American to Trust | The Walrus

Trump and Big Tech have fused into a new kind of threat

^{Cory Doctorow (The Walrus)}

@pluralistic let me start by saying it's unconscionable that we have to treat items we ostensibly own as hostile.

These types of situations are a good use for those old phones you've got kicking about. Without a SIM/service, they'll have difficulty sending surveillance data back to our corporate overlords.

That may not work in this instance, but for a lot of things you just need the app to control the device.

#InfoSec #BigTech

Likely to no-one's surprise a new (draft) strategy being developed by the EU Commission (and seen by the FT) shifts the Commission's focus on information & Communications Technologies from regulation to intra-Eu incentives to replace US tech & services with 'home-grown' alternatives....

No-one thinks this will be easy, but developing a strategy & putting funds behind it will be the first step on a necessary if challenging (but not impassible) road.

#BigTech #EU #SocialMedia #technology

Pay what you owe!

Iran demands Big Tech pay fees for undersea Internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

#Iran #BigTech #Cables #Undersea #StraitOfHormuz #Tech

I have written a sample letter that you can use to invite organizations to join the #Fediverse.

The letter is shared under a #CC0 license. Feel free to copy, adapt and send it to organizations that still rely on #BigTech.

Thanks to @danie1 for the English translation.

Replies to this post will also appear as comments under the blog post.

bammerlaan.nl/posts/Example_le…

#OpenSource #SocialMedia #mastodon #decentralisation #PublicSpaces #x #threads #bluesky #DigitalSovereignty #ActivityPub #AntiTrust

It was never about #ageverification!

It was about government having become impotent to regulate big tech. It was about the #neoliberal #ideology having invaded every nook & cranny of our lives. Even children have to serve the interests of shareholders in #BigTech companies, who won’t be held accountable for making their products safe for children.

Instead we hand over what remains of our #privacy to generate even more money & power for shareholders, disguised as care.. 🤮

✊ Next, the Resisting #BigTech Empires event:

globaljustice.org.uk/event/res…

Many insightful speakers discussing the parallels between today's tech feudal lords and the history of #imperialism and #colonialism.

Many insightful speakers including @pluralistic in conversation with Sofia Scasserra.

#enshittification

3/5 🧵

The UK isn’t a vassal state of America.

Yet Trump wants to punish us over a digital services tax.

This can be resolved by ditching US Big Tech from our digital infrastructure.

We should invest in open source to promote economic growth through greater innovation and a more competitive tech sector.

theguardian.com/us-news/2026/a…

#digitalsovereignty #trump #digitalservices #tech #bigtech #opensource #ukpolitics #ukpol #tarrif

globaljustice.org.uk/event/res…

This is happening this Saturday (25th) in #London.

Rebel Tech Alliance will be there doing a talk and practical workshop - to help people choose alternatives to #bigtech 😁

And @pluralistic is doing the keynote speech!

#ResistingBigTechEmpires

I dont want Big Tech Europe
I want Open Source Europe

#europe #EU #bigtech #opensource

The UK's "over-reliance on foreign [tech] companies has become an urgent issue of national security as US foreign policy actions are creating geopolitical uncertainty.”

Our new report calls for the UK government to pursue Digital Sovereignty to protect its critical infrastructure.

🗣️ ORG's Exec Director @jim

computerweekly.com/news/366641…

#DigitalSovereignty #nationalsecurity #bigtech #opensource #ukpolitics #ukpol

I have so many thoughts about how the U.S. is trying to circumvent 13th Amendment. Too many thoughts for now. So, this Louisiana bill to criminalize homelessness by Big Tech funded groups highlights some of Big Tech goals we may be supporting. Having been in technology for many years, always believed technology is for improvement to humanity. Now, it seems that developments and innovation in technology are to oppress humanity.

housingnothandcuffs.org/2026/0…

#racism #BigTech #slavery #uspol

LinkedIn Is Illegally Searching Your Computer

browsergate.eu

#tech #technology #BigTech #IT #enshittification #microslop #microsoft #LinkedIn #social #media #SocialMedia #data #security #safety #InfoSec #internet #web

and while we're rejecting #Palantir why not cut to the source of most problems: our behavioural data being harvested by #BigTech

I set up a non-profit, the Rebel Tech Alliance, to show people all the non-spyware alternatives that they can switch to:

rebeltechalliance.org/

We have a step-by-step programme called the #BigTechWalkout 😁 Collective action we can all take individually!

#privacy #surveillance

There's lots of talk of the need to wrench Europe out of its dependence on US software & digital services/products.

In Schleswig-Holstein the local government has got on with it; over the last two years they've migrated a range of digital functions to free & open source alternatives

No-one is saying its easy, but equally as this small German state is proving, it is certainly possible!

My guess is a lot of public sector IT mangers are watching very closely!

#BigTech #OpenSource
h/t FT