The European Social Stack · An open declaration

An open declaration

Open Social Platforms and Private Messaging

Social media’s impact on society and citizens clearly shows the need for change. Europe has a strong ecosystem of social companies and a deep well of expertise in designing and operating social protocols. We are building on this to move away from large monopolistic platforms with their authoritarian governance and editorial positions, and are joining forces to establish a diverse and resilient information infrastructure in Europe. Together, we will protect people and institutions from interference by these platforms. What’s more, we will bring thousands of jobs and billions of euros that social media generates to our continent, to circulate that revenue in our own thriving business ecosystem. From this perspective, open European platforms and protocols such as the Fediverse (Mastodon, PeerTube, or Mobilizon), the Atmosphere (Eurosky, Flashes, Tangled, or Web Tiles) and Private Messaging systems (like Matrix or XMPP) are complementary solutions for Europe, with shared common goals. Here is how we are building the European Social Web:

Common principles

The eight principles we hold in common. Digital autonomy We are governing digital infrastructure in Europe, according to democratic principles, away from the control of foreign companies or governments. European tech stack Social media and social networking are an important element of foreign technological dominance and key to foreign political interference in Europe. Therefore, we are building the Social Web as a critical layer of an independent Europe. Decentralised networks Europe is a union of 27 sovereign nations, over 200 languages and dialects, 242 regions, 100,000+ towns and cities and 450M people, united by the idea that collaboration and coordination is best for all Europeans. Decentralised social networks match the European model – diversity and local autonomy connected by transparent, open standards into a robust and resilient whole. As Europeans, we are seizing the opportunity to move to resilient, decentralised social networks and protocols, away from oligarch-owned walled gardens. European content.

European social networks. European infrastructure. We call upon governments, municipalities, public service media, and civic institutions to:

Publish content preferentially on open European social media. Oligarch-owned infrastructure follows oligarch editorial lines, and none of those are in the public’s interest. Invest in European content and the infrastructure to produce such content needed for European social networks. Fund the development of resilient, decentralised technology and infrastructure supporting European content and networks. Wide and diverse ownership We support a mix of ownership structures for social networks, from community to privately owned, from non-profit to VC-backed, from co-operatives to local companies. We call upon our elected officials to demonstrate political leadership and stop pandering to models that serve no European interest. Diverse business models With a diversity of ownership comes a diversity of business models. Our systems empower server operators and entrepreneurs to select the business model that best meets their needs, be it ad-supported (including novel privacy-preserving advertising technology developed in Europe), software-as a-service (SaaS), subscriptions, crowdfunding, public funding, and any other methods which they can imagine. Strengthening democracy Europe is in a hybrid conflict on two fronts; our elections and political life are under direct attack from foreign agents who use social media to manipulate public opinion and centre the political agenda to undermine us. We are deploying systems that have editorial pluralism and FIMI monitoring built in to shield our polity from influence and make our democracy resilient under attack. Open source The European social stack is a chance to bring Europe’s open source software strategy to everyday Europeans’ lives in a meaningful way. Open Source servers, infrastructure, and apps make social networking for Europeans more transparent, secure, and reliable. We are adopting open source and open protocol solutions to replace proprietary foreign technology.

Complementary technologies

Three complementary stacks. Networked technologies form institutions that lend themselves to addressing different governance needs for different environments. Putting these three stacks together covers extensive ground: Private messaging For Private Messaging in groups, open standards (like Matrix or XMPP) are ideal for instantaneous communication, or sharing between family or friends.

Multiple EU member states have successfully adopted these protocols, including for security and defence applications. The Fediverse The Fediverse, built around ActivityPub, has grown from cohesive grassroots communities that interact with one another, and connects all aspects of a social platform or digital publication into a single deployment. It is exemplified by Mastodon, PeerTube, and Mobilizon. The Atmosphere The Atmosphere, running AT, has its foundations in large-scale public social media systems and correspondingly offers the kind of unbundled governance that should be expected of large democratic systems. It can be seen at work in Eurosky, Flashes, Tangled, or the newer Web Tiles.

Joint developments

What the signatories intend to build together. The open European platforms and protocols that sign intend to explore working on important areas of joint development. These include: Eurobridge Support and development of Eurobridge, a European-owned and -operated bridge that connects European Fediverse servers with Eurosky and the Atmosphere (built on Bridgy Fed). Distributed identity The development of a system for a distributed identity that can be used across networks and beyond (e.g. the European Digital ID Wallet) and protects personal data. Content moderation The development of content moderation infrastructure in accordance with the DSA and the DMA in order to support developers and communities to manage illegal content such as CSAM. Multi-protocol integration Multi-protocol integration such as using Matrix for DMs or stories in social apps that otherwise focus on community or public interactions, so that builders and users get the best of all worlds in a simple, invisible manner. Collaboration on representation and funding Representatives of the protocols, networks, platforms, and the communities they support are supportive of each other’s approaches to institutions and funders, collaborate on joint representations, submit joint proposals for funding (where appropriate), or acknowledge the need for dual funding for complementary solutions (where separate funding proposals are made). A full social ecosystem Work together to build a full social ecosystem.

We are facing incumbents with trillions in valuation and billions of users, the only approach that is bigger than they are is ecosystemic. An ecosystem built on shared infrastructure and protocols empowers small builders to create social apps in no time and users to freely move between them. The network effects we create are shared by all.

Organisations

Organisational signatories. Felix Ableitner Lemmy Jaz-Michael King IFTAS James Smith Manyfold Melanie Bartos, Johannes Ernst, Tommi Marmo FediForum Wolfgang Oels Ecosia Anirudh Oppiliappan Tangled Guido X Jansen Singi Labs / Sifa ID Peter Mechels FediVariety John O’Nolan Ghost.org Bert Stavenuiter Mentaal.nl Kai Simon Utzinger SOVERIA Christian Bollert Podcast-Radio detektor.fm Herman Fostvedt Skylike.social Florian König KING CONSULT | Kommunikation Sam Sauer Krekeny Silas Wolf woven Alice Stollmeyer Defend Democracy Paul Payne Civil Society Technology Foundation Robin Everaars HOIST IT B.V. Mark Wieczorek Planetary Research Cooperative Niels Decoster touchgrass.network Hugo Gameiro Masto.host

Razali Samsudin Manifest Studio Jurgen Gaeremyn BeLibre Ankesh Bharti Tiles Privacy Rafael Beckel Vista Tech & Art GmbH De Bontridder Dany NOALYSS Nepomuk Seiler gutefrage.net GmbH Mads Bordinggaard Rillbar Nzayisenga lsmael Global Cultivators Network Martin Fiedler Creative Saxony Jeroen Janssen LAYLO B.V. h3artbl33d Exquisite Kurt Gramlich www.fsub.de Patrick Boehler Gazzetta Ian Preston Peergos Mischa Peters OpenBSD Amsterdam Christian Landgren Berget AI Ian Forrester Cubicgarden ltd Markus Sabadello Danube Tech Callum Owen Wholesome Tech Kim Yeong-jae CYbrain-Group Jayne Samuel-Walker toot.wales Sophie Bloemen Commons Network Matt