This looks like it's just the open source BlueSky instance and AT protocol? That's an American project and company, right? Is it just that the instance itself is run in Europe? What is "built in Europe"?
As a European, my impression is that things named something something ”Euro” tend to be cheap and low quality. I don’t think it’s possible to build a positive consumer brand around ”Eurosky”. I support the cause though - we probably need to find a catchy word like ”Brexit” or ”enshittification” to make it salient.
Also, the name is.... Could they really not come up with something apart from a bluesky rip off? I understand they integrate with them etc, but still if you want to create a new app that you want actual people to use, then you need to be a little more creative. Thats ignoring the web design choices that others have commented on.
Competition is good, but Europe has generally less good legal free speech protections than the United States does (because basically everywhere has less good legal free speech protections than the United States does, the first amendment is a powerful legal framework). Being governed by European law means that there's a whole host of things that the criminal justice system has an interest in preventing you from saying, and eurosky will presumably follow the law.
> In the next 12 months we aim to set up and operate key components in the AT Protocol tech stack: PDS services, relays, and content moderation, in order to ensure that the ecosystem is robust, resilient and with a base in Europe. We also aim to kickstart the development of a suite of social applications that advance democratic and participatory civics, through technical support, access to resources, and collaboration with communities.
> To do that, we aim to raise €5-7 million over the next 12 months, and €15 million in funding by 2028.
€5-7m for operating a BlueSky instance. Great use of european funds right here!
Considering the draconian policies in the UK, Germany etc where people are arrested based on their social media posts criticizing the government or its officials or anything the govt doesn't agree with, I am not sure what exactly is the selling point here of using a social media platform built/hosted in Europe.
German police raid home of social media user over civil servant 'parasite' post
Man's house searched at dawn after criticizing tax system and government workers on social media; lawyer calls actions 'absurd and illegal'
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/german-police-raid-home-of-s...
"the laws" being making everything you post on it publically available in bulk for research into social engineering so the brussels elite/monarchies can better manipulate the population.
Remind me again exactly why anyone should be excited about that?
All these "European social media" projects are, imo, cash grabs trying to capitalise on the populist "European digital sovereignty" sentiment.
If your goal was social media "built and run in Europe, ruled by our laws", you'd just host a Mastodon instance and donate those EU funds to Mastodon GmbH
Another contender to become the European 'Max' [1] for when the EU decides it can no longer tolerate communications applications where those who stray too far from the desired narrative are not reined in.
Nope, nein, nee, nej, non, нет, não, nie, nei, ei, nē, ne, όχ and whatever other word for 'no' you can think of.
Oh boy. Vaporware startup facing an unsolved cold-start problem calling itself the “next era” of something and announcing lofty funding goals. Exactly where I want to put my personal data.
Europe absolutely should build their own. Is this the one that will happen? Will they have a diverse selection of viewpoints?
>Today, social media is critical technology. It shapes information flows, social norms, and political discourse. Yet Europe runs on US-owned systems whose architectures remain outside European jurisdiction and democratic control.
Social media is a place for speech. There's nothing else there.
Democratic control over speech is their goal.
>This includes our modular moderation platform, CoCoMo.
CoCoMo is an interesting name, but also quite interesting how they never explain which speech they plan to "control"
When your stated goal is to control the speech of your political opponents, they wont join.
Sorry but NO, thanks. I'm and EU citizen, I do not want to switch from a spy service to another. I want decentralized/distributed platforms. The old Usenet is good, Nostr is usable, the Fediverse still works.
It's time to break cages IMPOSING FLOSS not trying to makes new GAFAM with pseudo-open services.
Is anyone else bothered that "social media" for the last few years is equated only to the micro-post platforms like xitter, bluesky, mastodon etc.? Are there any "normal" new social networks with no arbitrary character limits, tree comment structure, usable categories or subforums and sane UI, not singularly focused on a tiny screens?
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[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 41.1 ms ] threadmost humans abhor sterile environments.
This looks like it's just the open source BlueSky instance and AT protocol? That's an American project and company, right? Is it just that the instance itself is run in Europe? What is "built in Europe"?
> In the next 12 months we aim to set up and operate key components in the AT Protocol tech stack: PDS services, relays, and content moderation, in order to ensure that the ecosystem is robust, resilient and with a base in Europe. We also aim to kickstart the development of a suite of social applications that advance democratic and participatory civics, through technical support, access to resources, and collaboration with communities.
> To do that, we aim to raise €5-7 million over the next 12 months, and €15 million in funding by 2028.
€5-7m for operating a BlueSky instance. Great use of european funds right here!
Sources: German police arrest author over tweets criticising Netanyahu https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/german-police-arrest-aut...
German police raid home of social media user over civil servant 'parasite' post Man's house searched at dawn after criticizing tax system and government workers on social media; lawyer calls actions 'absurd and illegal' https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/german-police-raid-home-of-s...
Remind me again exactly why anyone should be excited about that?
If your goal was social media "built and run in Europe, ruled by our laws", you'd just host a Mastodon instance and donate those EU funds to Mastodon GmbH
We love to pretend that we're all for free speech; but our species are too tribal and we'll never escape it.
We are not a socially mature species in the slightest.
I don't trust megacorps, but I trust governments even less than that.
Nope, nein, nee, nej, non, нет, não, nie, nei, ei, nē, ne, όχ and whatever other word for 'no' you can think of.
[1] https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/08/28/everything-you-nee...
Oops
>Today, social media is critical technology. It shapes information flows, social norms, and political discourse. Yet Europe runs on US-owned systems whose architectures remain outside European jurisdiction and democratic control.
Social media is a place for speech. There's nothing else there.
Democratic control over speech is their goal.
>This includes our modular moderation platform, CoCoMo.
CoCoMo is an interesting name, but also quite interesting how they never explain which speech they plan to "control"
When your stated goal is to control the speech of your political opponents, they wont join.
It's time to break cages IMPOSING FLOSS not trying to makes new GAFAM with pseudo-open services.
Ooooh right because the current people in power want to use it for their ends.