@elenarossini.com
Italian filmmaker, media critic & Fediverse + FOSS advocate. Who is funding my W Social reporting? ME! Why do I write about W Social? Because I find the discrepancy between media hype and reality (so many tech and communications blunders) fascinating 👻
@elenarossini.com#WSocial’s advice here is TERRIBLE - deleting your account won’t change a thing.
Just now I found the record of a minor (15yo) who was verified by #WIdentity. His account status is now “taken down” but his full name, nationality and approx. date of birth are still visible on W's verification list!
@elenarossini.com@elenarossini.com@palle.eurosky.social just published a powerful exposé about the #WSocial "it's not a leak if we intentionally publish it" ID data controversy.
I highly recommend you read it (it's in German, but you could use your browser's translation tool): www.metacheles.de/w-social-dat...
@elenarossini.comPlus: Tools for Humanity sounds all nice and innocent until you start digging in and see that it's a company co-founded by Sam Altman that wants to scan your iris for identification.
They paid refugees and unhoused people in cash for iris scans. Not sus at all!
@elenarossini.comAh yes, good times! wojciech claimed I created a false account on W and impersonated Jonathon to frame W with racist posts. W CEO Anna Zeiter replied "thanks for flagging this!" And Jonathon using a different account on Bluesky called me a "malicious drug addict" All in my screenshot collection
@elenarossini.comExhibit no. 1684: mu.social/profile/elen...
And I’ve got plenty of screenshots to prove this because some of the deranged posts accusing me got deleted …
@elenarossini.comExcept if a person affected, who was unaware of how their data would be made public, denounces it to the data protection authority in their own country. This will be newsworthy. W Social claims they got consent, but I have already heard from a person who verified his account who is outraged by this
@elenarossini.comcc @pds.dad 🎃🎃🎃
@elenarossini.comMy gut feeling is: instead of deleting your account, you could migrate it to another PDS (Bluesky, Eurosky, or something else)? It's very easy to do. And regarding your ID verification data, I would file a formal request of erasure under Article 17 of GDPR, to make sure it's properly dealt with.
@elenarossini.comThank you Shane.
I would still keep an eye out because yesterday the official W Social account posted this: "Verified before September? Your details aren’t displayed yet. Support for earlier accounts is on the way." mu.social/profile/wsoc...
I hope you can completely opt out from this feature
@elenarossini.comHi Shane. Sadly it's true. But! The publishing to the open web affects all the accounts who were verified from September 17th onward. Your information is "safe" as you were verified in July. Your legal name, nationality and approx. birthday are not public records on the Atmosphere
@elenarossini.comHi Jan. I have a question if you don't mind. At AtmosphereConf you said: "W Identity knows exactly who you are, but not which W Social account you have... whereas W Social knows all about your social account but not who you are." This isn't the case today. Did something change?
@elenarossini.comYou made it @pascalmachtpause.eurosky.social ?!? Congratulations!!! 🥳 Did you do anything differently to be able to move out?
@elenarossini.comMy hunch is that they didn't know it was even an option 🙊 May I quote you Alexia in an upcoming blog post about this incident?
@elenarossini.comDear Ingmar: some people do things without financial incentives.
I have been writing about #WSocial because I find the discrepancy between the media hype and reality fascinating.
I suspect many of your verified users are not aware that their details are published on the open web, outside of W
@elenarossini.comThank you for saying this: I think nuance here is SUPER important. I have a TON of sympathy for people who signed up for W Social believing all the marketing promises (real humans, ID info only stays on the phone and is immediately deleted from their servers). This is why raising awareness is key
@elenarossini.comKnowing them far too well I would recommend grabbing a screenshot before they delete the post (their MO) 🙃
@elenarossini.comAs someone who has written critical posts about #WSocial, I have been on the receiving end of constant defamatory attacks by their MEGA fans, calling me a “Russian asset” and an agent of disinfo. Huh? I just report facts.
Their reaction is classic DARVO: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim & Offender
@elenarossini.comThis thread is a must read 🔥
@elenarossini.comA month ago I wrote 2 posts about lack of content moderation on W, that allowed hate speech to run wild (with screenshots as evidence). I was accused by a W Social MEGA fan of: 1) impersonating the racist accounts to frame W 2) being a Russian asset! The CEO replied: thanks for flagging this! 🤯🫠
