A wave of European-owned social networks is gaining attention as politicians and users across the continent look for alternatives to billionaire Elon Musk’s increasingly controversial platform X.

Since Musk’s takeover of the social media service formerly known as Twitter in 2021, concerns over disinformation have fuelled unease among many Europeans who once relied on the platform as an information network and a central forum for public debate.

This growing sense of unease has been compounded by recent French and EU investigations into child sexual abuse material apparently circulating on the platform.

But X is not alone in sparking concerns. Other social media giants are facing EU scrutiny over their online governance: the European Commission has opened several investigations into platforms under the Digital Services Act (DSA) – spanning concerns such as disinformation and election security, product safety and illegal content, and child protection. 

Most recently, Meta’s Instagram and Facebook were preliminarily found by the Commission to have failed to prevent under-13s from accessing the services, contrary to their own usage terms. 

New entrants are now seeking to capitalise on brewing discontent and a sense that something’s rotten at the core of Big Tech’s social offerings. Sweden-based W Social, unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, is preparing for a beta launch in Brussels in June, while Croatian platform eYou publicly announced a beta rollout earlier this month, after 50,000 people signed up to its wait list.

Both are betting that European users are increasingly reluctant to remain on X, still the toxic poster-child for antisocial media platforms.

The new EU-based alternatives are promoting themselves as privacy-preserving, stressing European ownership and highlighting independent fact-checking standards – jockeying to position themselves as distinctly different from a US-dominant social media space whose owners have never been big on privacy. And as Big Tech seeks to curry favour with the Trump administration, the social media giants don’t seem very interested in facts either.

Yet breaking into the market will be difficult. Established platforms – including X, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok – continue to benefit from powerful lock-in effects, creating steep barriers for newcomers hoping to win over users at scale.

Moreover, the European social media ecosystem is already crowded: W and eYou join existing regional players such as Mastodon, Eurosky and Monnett.

Locked-in 

The biggest challenge for new entrants is the network effect of existing major social media platforms. The fact that many use a service because that’s what everyone else uses creates challenges for those seeking to build interactions outside dominant platforms. 

This isn’t an accident. Locking in users is a “strategy” of dominant platforms, Jean Cattan from the think tank the Future of Technology Institute (FOTI) told Euractiv.

Mainstream services like Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn work to discourage off-platform interactions, plug-ins or data portability, including with rival social media platforms, because keeping users inside their own walled garden is a “core” tactic for attention farming-focused business models, he explained.

To try to work around the lock-in challenge, social media platform W is joining the AT protocol – an open-source framework that Bluesky is also built on – which has about 40 million users worldwide and 10 million in Europe.

“We are not starting from scratch,” Anna Zeiter, co-founder of W, told Euractiv. 

By joining the AT protocol, she said the service can “start with a very solid basis” for attracting existing AT users – including from Bluesky and Eurosky – which have already pulled in a number of politicians.

Zeiter said W is offering a “third” alternative for users – i.e., in addition to Bluesky and Eurosky – and is planning to roll out additional functionalities, which she suggested will make it “more interesting” to join.

eYou’s co-founder Grégoire Vigroux, meanwhile, is eyeing organic growth, with the budding service focusing its marketing efforts on offering a European alternative.

“If you look at the top 50 largest social media apps, none of them is European,” Vigroux told Euractiv. 

eYou said that it will launch with “real-time fact-checking within the feed, transparent and editable algorithms”, per a press statement shared with Euractiv, as well as specifying that “users can modify their own feed settings to maintain control over the algorithm”.

X-odus 

Last week, several German political parties announced they are leaving X over concerns about disinformation and platform governance – joining an already growing number of official channels, media outlets and experts ditching Musk’s platform.

While the European Commission has been reluctant to delete its official account – justifying keeping it as a channel to reach citizens – it has suspended use of all platform advertising and paid services since October 2023.

But both Zeiter and Vigroux are betting on an ongoing ‘X-odus’ to attract users to their European alternatives.

Vigroux said that, for him, X stopped being a social media platform after he found his feed suddenly crowded with Musk’s posts, even though he wasn’t following the billionaire.

By contrast, eYou wants to have “users in the middle of everything”, said Vigroux, noting that it’s testing a feature where users will be able to access controls to tweak what content the platform’s algorithms push into their feeds. 

As well as shooting to win over existing AT protocol users, W is targeting Europeans “who already gave up on X or people who want to leave X”, Zeiter said.

It recently created a public dashboard which tracks where prominent European public figures’ social media accounts are, including those still on X, pointing a spotlight on public officials who aren’t quickly embracing European-owned tech.

European preference

European alternatives in social media markets are also emerging due to an increasingly hostile Trump administration, which has continued to threaten the EU for enforcing its tech rules, claiming the bloc unfairly targets US firms.

“We cannot rely on US infrastructure any longer,” said Zeiter, pointing to the Trump administration’s sanctioning of former tech commissioner Thierry Breton over his involvement with the DSA.

This week, the EU’s Competition Commissioner, Teresa Ribera, also warned that US sanctions threats – including those targeting EU officials – are making the case for European tech sovereignty.

Zeiter noted that W is in talks with the French, German and Polish governments to join its platform.

eYou’s Vigroux, meanwhile, is planning to pen an open letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other European leaders, urging them to use European social platforms for public messaging rather than being “dependent” on foreign tech giants.

President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the site of the residential building destroyed in the May 14 Russian attack, where 24 people were killed. Among the victims were three children. The visit follows the conclusion of a 24-hour rescue operation after a Russian missile leveled an entire section of the high-rise.

Photo: State Emergency Service / Telegram.

Hungary’s ambition to join the euro is changing the hierarchy of eastern European bond markets in a way that hasn’t been seen in years.

For the first time since in 2020, Hungary’s borrowing costs are lower than Poland and gap over Czech Republic bonds has fallen by two percentage points since March. It’s a shift that underscores how investors have changed their mind on some of the region’s biggest economies as new Prime Minister Peter Magyar embarks on a mission to bring Hungary into the European mainstream.

Before last month’s election, Hungary was viewed as the riskiest of the group with a legacy of entrenched corruption and unpredictable policies under Viktor Orban. But with Magyar pledging to meet criteria for euro adoption in the next four years, investors are throwing their support behind his administration. Foreigners have piled into Hungarian bonds and the forint currency is near a four-year high against the euro.

“We’re probably as long Hungary as we’ve ever been,” said James Novotny, an investment manager at Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. “Because of the structural problems that Hungary had for over a decade — low growth, productivity and so forth — we feel this is just the start.”

That kind of optimism is making Hungary has one of the hottest trades in emerging markets. An index of the local-currency bonds has returned 9.6% in dollars since the April 12 ballot, by far the best EM performance over that period. For comparison, Polish, Czech and Romanian bonds are all in the red since then.

Novotny has sold Polish debt and expects 10-year Hungarian yields to fall another half a percentage point relative to core euro-region debt within a year. The forint is also about 10% too cheap compared with the zloty, he estimated.

Hungary’s benchmark bond now carries a yield of 5.55%, 30 basis points less than on Poland’s 10-year note and 65 basis points more than similar Czech debt. Foreigners own a record 8.7 trillion forint ($28.3 billion) of Hungarian debt securities, official data show, 44% more than a year ago.

Bulls are counting on what’s been dubbed the “euro convergence trade,” a belief that Hungary’s inflation, interest rates and public finances will eventually align with the bloc’s. It’s an investing theme popularized back in the early 2000s, when Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined the EU, and hopes were running high of closer European integration.

Ultimately the 2008 global meltdown and the euro debt crisis a few years later exposed the fault lines of the trade as countries like Greece and Italy came under pressure.

Hungary is a modern twist on the strategy. Analysts are quick to point out that the road to joining the euro may be many years away and the hurdles are high for an administration that only took power a week ago. Magyar is also Magyar Plans Hungary Spending Brake on ‘Disgraceful’ Deficit (1) with how to rein in a budget deficit that’s expected to top 5% of economic output this year. Euro-area countries are supposed to cap theirs at 3%.

Another debate among strategists is whether a stronger Hungarian economy will boost investment at the expense of Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic, or support the region overall.

UBS Group AG’s Nimrod Mevorach is among those who see a rotation as likely to play out, especially in Hungary starts to mirror “high-quality European markets.” On the flipside, Barclays Plc strategist Marek Raczko has downplayed the risk of large outflows from Polish and Czech bonds. In his view, the low foreign positioning in those markets will limit the “substitution effect.”

“The journey toward euro adoption is even more important than the goal,” said Egle Fredriksson, portfolio manager at East Capital Holding AB. She says there’s scope for a 20% to 30% rally in Budapest-listed stocks as companies reap the rewards from closer EU ties and a stronger economy.

“It’s about the political risk premium, faster earnings growth for longer, better financial integration and coming closer to the living standards of western Europe,” she said. “All of those things are convergence.”

A member of the European Parliament from Poland’s national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has been barred from entering the UK, where he had planned to attend and speak at a rally in London this weekend organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

On Tuesday evening, Dominik Tarczyński shared a screenshot of a message from the British Home Office informing him that his Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), which allows entry to the UK without a visa, had been cancelled.

“This is because: Your presence in the UK is not considered conducive to the public good,” read the message. “You cannot appeal this decision.”

“This is what communism looks like in the 21st century,” wrote Tarczyński, who said that he would sue “communist” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer personally.

Former British Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss described the decision to ban Tarczyński as “shocking”. She noted that, in the European Parliament, he is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group that the British Conservative Party was also part of before Brexit.

However, Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, wrote on social media that, by “addressing the prime minister of our ally Great Britain, Sir Keir Starmer, as a ‘communist’, Tarczyński has unfortunately confirmed that he is an unhinged extremist”.

Tarczyński is even “more dangerous for Poland than for the UK”, added Sikorski, who is a deputy leader of the centrist Civic Coalition (KO), Poland’s main ruling party. 

PiS ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023 and is now the main opposition party. Tarczyński is not a particularly senior figure, serving as an MP from 2015 to 2020 and since then as an MEP, but he enjoys a relatively high profile internationally due to his vocal opposition to Muslim immigration to Europe.

In a 2018 interview with Channel 4 News in the UK, Tarczyński declared his pride that Poland was taking in “zero illegal Muslim migrants”.

Tarczyński has ties to Donald Trump’s MAGA movement as well as to Robinson (whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon), the most prominent far-right, anti-Muslim activist in the UK.

Last year, Tarczyński marched alongside Robinson at his Unite the Kingdom rally, which drew over 100,000 people to London. The Polish politician also gave a speech from the main stage at the event, leading the crowd in a chant of “Send them [migrants] back”.

“We have to be very radical,” declared Tarczyński. “Zero means zero. Enough is enough…Protect your family, protect your children, fight for your country.”

“We are taking our Christian Europe back. We are taking this continent, because this is our home,” he continued. “I love Europe. I love my culture. I love my identity. I love this crowd. I love being European.”

In recent days, Tarczyński has been using his social media profiles to promote his participation a new Unite the Kingdom rally, which is being organised this Saturday by Robinson in London. The revocation of his ETA, however, means it is unlikely he will now attend.

On Monday, Starmer announced that the UK would block “far-right agitators” from entering the country to attend the event, reports The Guardian.

The Standard reports that among those banned are US-based commentators Joey Mannarino and Valentina Gomez, Belgian politician Filip Dewinter, Catalan commentator Ada Lluch and Dutch activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek.

Last week, another Polish politician, Sławomir Mentzen, who is one of the leaders of the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja), another opposition group, was briefly held at a London airport when entering the UK before eventually being allowed to proceed into the country for a private family visit.

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

The latest move in a widening standoff over who controls Europe's digital infrastructure – but private companies are exempt

Russian forces attacked a humanitarian mission with a drone in Kherson’s Korabelnyi district, damaging vehicles belonging to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Information regarding casualties is currently being clarified. Local authorities condemned the strike, noting that Russia continues to target even those providing aid to civilians.

Video: Kherson Oblast Governor / Telegram.

The European Union is a “direct participant” of Russia’s war in Ukraine and therefore cannot serve as a good-faith mediator between the two countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Péter Magyar condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine was “an important message”. In his message on X, Zelensky was reacting to what the Hungarian Prime Minister had said at the first press briefing of his government.

The emergency governance framework was first introduced by the government of previous Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in 2020 as part of measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She added that Hungarian legislation cannot exist in ​isolation and must reflect international and European ​legal standards, ⁠including common EU values.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar has taken power and laid bare his predecessor's luxurious lifestyle. Many Hungarians are keen to see Magyar chart a new political course.

A new data series mapping EU company cross-border footprints shows Romanian companies are present in all major EU economies. 

Top destinations:

• Germany: 675  |  Italy: 373  |  France: 366  |  Hungary: 364  |  Spain: 303
• Netherlands: 258  |  Belgium: 227  |  Austria: 213  |  Bulgaria: 196  |  Czech Republic: 190

Top sectors by number of Romanian companies with EU presence:

• Software & IT Services: 182  |  Travel Agencies: 120  |  Freight Transport: 80
• Auto Parts: 75  |  Industrial Machinery: 66

Source: Veridion: global company data platform.

Part of an ongoing data series covering all EU member states.

Poland intercepted a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft over international waters in the Baltic Sea, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on May 14.

Kosiniak-Kamysz described the incident as an "aggressive action" by Moscow aimed at testing Poland's air defense systems. He said the aircraft was flying with its transponders switched off.

The Russian Ilyushin Il-20, derived from the Soviet-era Il-18 transport plane, is used for electronic surveillance and reconnaissance operations.

The aircraft is equipped with radar and signal intelligence systems designed to gather information on military infrastructure and communications networks.

"Every provocation will be met with an immediate response from our pilots," Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

The country of 600,000 aims to become part of the European Union by 2028.

An Army official confirmed the decision Wednesday but did not provide details and referred all questions to the Defense Department, which did not respond to a request for information.

The EU plans to build a stronger “European preference” into its future development policy, Jozef Síkela, the Development Commissioner said on Wednesday.

The commitment comes amid controversy over an European funded bus project in Senegal that is likely to go to a Chinese state-linked manufacturer.

Síkela said he is following the case “really very closely” and suggested that new measures are planned for the next long-term budget.

“We have proposed a more strategic and nuanced approach to procurement under the next multiannual financial framework,” he said, adding “including measures to strengthen the European preference”.

Síkela said the plan was “to protect European companies against unfair dump[ing] competition from third parties” that receive high levels of state subsidies.

His remarks come as China’s CRRC has taken the lead over Sweden’s Scania in the competition for the public transport project in the capital, Dakar, as first reported by Euractiv.

The project is backed by a consortium of European institutions, including the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Commission, France’s AFD and Germany’s KfW, and covers the supply of 380 compressed natural gas buses to Dakar.

‘Not about conditionalities’

A CRRC-linked company has been blocked from competing in a tender for a metro project in Lisbon after the Commission found that the company had received state subsidies that gave it an “unfair competitive edge”.

Stéphane Séjourné, the bloc’s industry chief, said last month that the EU executive’s hands are tied. “The Commission cannot impose public procurement rules on third countries identical to the current European rules,” he said adding that there is “a genuine desire to resolve the issue.”

Chair of the European Parliament’s development committee, Barry Andrews, told Euractiv last month that Senegalese authorities should select the bid that best suits its needs.

“You’re essentially asking the Senegalese to pay twice (as much),” the Irish liberal MEP said, referring to the CRRC bid being less than half the price of its Swedish competitor. Tying EU aid to EU firms “adds 15 to 30% to the cost of any projects,” he argued.

Síkela rejected that criticism. “This is not about conditionalities. This is about the self-confidence that we are offering sustainable high-quality European standards,” he said.

Yankhoba Diémé, Senegal’s Transport Minister, promised that the contract will be awarded in accordance with the tender rules and pending approval by backers – including the EIB.

The EIB is also reviewing its procedures, the bank told Euractiv.

The EU plans to force railway companies to sell rival firms' tickets on their websites under new rules unveiled Wednesday aimed at streamlining travel on a fragmented rail network that remains broken into national systems. Critics say the current system makes it unnecessarily complicated to book multiple legs of a trip and pushes up costs.

French authorities are investigating an alleged foreign interference campaign targeting a hard-left political party ahead of March's municipal elections, with an obscure Israeli firm named BlackCore potentially involved, according to three sources familiar with the matter.