Instagram and Facebook from Meta, X (formerly Twitter) from Elon Musk, TikTok from ByteDance — billions of social media users interact with these products every day.

These and other tech corporations have become huge and powerful. But in recent years, the European Union has made a considerable effort to limit their influence. DW has the most important questions and answers.

Why has Big Tech drawn criticism?

Large corporations such as Meta or ByteDance wield enormous market power — up to 3 billion Instagram users and nearly 2 billion TikTok users speak for themselves. Their influence extends beyond market dominance, as the platforms' algorithms help determine which pieces of information reach us in the first place and, to some extent, how we perceive the world through the social media filter.

But critics say the platforms aren't doing enough to combat fake news, that they promote polarization, prioritize extreme content in their algorithms and neglect data protection — for example, when it comes to personalized advertising and training of the respective in-house artificial intelligence.

In Europe, several countries are debating a social media ban for young people; Australia already introduced one back in December.

For many years, the European Union has clashed with social media platforms over their moderation strategies, including Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook. Many users and advertising customers turned their backs on Twitter, after it was sold to South African multibillionaire Elon Musk and subsequently rebranded as X in 2023.

The Chinese TikTok platform has faced allegations of proximity to the Chinese government and the Communist Party, including concerns over censorship. And European security agencies have warned that TikTok, or ByteDance, is storing data to an unknown extent. If so, and for what purpose the geopolitical rival China would be using the data, is not clear.

Are there European social media alternatives?

Alternatives to Instagram, X and TikTok from Europe already exist: the Mastodon platform from Germany is said to be the most well-known. France has launched PeerTube, developed by the nonprofit Framasoft, as an alternative to YouTube, which is provided by Google parent company Alphabet.

The BeReal app, likewise from France, saw a brief surge in popularity in 2022. The concept allows users to post an image only once per day, at a varying time, and that image cannot be altered. The aim is to limit addiction potential.

Dutch network Eurosky, a a platform for accessing independent social networks, stores data in a decentralized way and in accordance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation.

W Social from Sweden is a less data-hungry alternative to X launched on May 9 — Europe Day — in response to platforms that are increasingly flooded by AI bots. In its own words, W Social is a social network "governed by EU law, data hosted in Europe, and built for real, verified people."

"In key security policy areas, authorities in European countries should only use products that are not subject to control or access of non-European governments," said Katharina Dröge, parliamentary leader for the Greens in Germany's parliament.

Backing up that stance, Henna Virkkunen, vice-president of the European Commission in charge of tech sovereignty, has maintained a Mastodon account since June 2025.

What do European platforms do differently?

The example of the X alternative Mastodon clearly illustrates the differences to the large non-European platforms: the network works in a decentralized manner, and data is not stored on a single server but on different computers that are operated by private individuals or institutions. Mastodon uses the decentralized protocol ActivityPub, which is managed by the World Wide Web Consortium headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the web.

Mastodon is a part of the Fediverse, an association of various independent, primarily Europe-based networks, including PeerTube. Fediverse platforms are based on open-source software, which makes them more cost-effective and more transparent than their US counterparts.

During the programming of their algorithms, the providers eschew endless recommendation timelines and prioritization of extreme content, which primarily helps to protect minors and prevent addiction.

What are the disadvantages of European social media providers?

Every social medium derives its appeal from having a multitude of users, with users and advertisers generating reach and visibility. And that's where the Europeans' key disadvantage comes in: all of them are, as yet, too small to achieve worldwide relevance.

The main issues compared to major providers are the complicated setup and user interface. "You have some convincing to do, because those alternatives are not well known. And it's possible that the applications just don't look exactly the way you're used to," Jochim Selzer of Germany's Chaos Computer Club, one of Europe's largest hacker associations, told German press service epd. Switching to other applications can come with a "certain adjustment period."

Mastodon now has some 10 million registered accounts and around 1 million active users per month, while the video platforms under the PeerTube umbrella host around 1 million videos, already making them European "giants."

But for now, there is no sign that Europe's alternatives will outperform their American or Chinese competitors.

This article was originally written in German.