Sawt Falasteen - W marks the X-spot: European social network takes on Musk

The competitor to Elon Musk's X platform was announced in January but it will be available to the public initially by invitation in the coming days and weeks.

At a launch event in Brussels, the company touted that top officials including EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde as well as EU institutions and media groups were using W.

Based in Sweden, the company has dozens of investors including entrepreneurs and executives from across Europe including Britain, France and Switzerland.

The tech team is based in Ukraine, CEO Anna Zeiter said.

Zeiter said the company wanted to create a space where humans interacted more with each other than AI bots, and under European control.

"Social media are coming from other countries outside of Europe. We are giving away the revenue. We are giving away our data. We are giving away our attention," she said.

W is not the only fledgling network seeking to capitalise on rising transatlantic tensions under US President Donald Trump since his return last year.

There are also Bulle (French for "bubble"), Eurosky, Monnett -- a hybrid of TikTok and Instagram, planned for release in July -- and eYou.

The most popular social networks in Europe are Meta's Facebook and Instagram with 259 million monthly users, Chinese-owned TikTok with 135.9 million monthly and X with approximately 115.1 million users, according to the EU.

O.Salim--SF-PST