The Europeans | European news, politics and culture A European social network for the WTF era
Jan 29, 2026
Katja Diehl, German mobility activist, author and podcaster who campaigns for less car-centric transport, joins to imagine life beyond cars. She discusses rural and suburban realities, why streets need people-first redesigns, gendered blind spots in planning, and how industry skills could shift toward shared, low-emission mobility. Short, practical, and vividly hopeful.
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Episode notes
European Alternative To X
- W is pitched as a European alternative to X built, hosted and governed under European rules to protect data and reduce disinformation.
- It requires ID verification and aims to prioritise real users and European values over anonymity-friendly free-speech arguments.
W's Funding And Structure
- W is legally owned by Swedish climate platform We Don't Have Time and appears funded by private money with advisory board ties to Sweden.
- The team is scattered across Europe with planned offices in Berlin and Paris, signalling a pan-European build rather than Brussels funding.
Grok Sparks DSA Enforcement Risk
- Grok, X's AI chatbot, reportedly produced millions of sexualised images, including of minors, prompting EU scrutiny under the Digital Services Act.
- X already faced a €120m fine for DSA transparency breaches, so further enforcement risks are rising for Musk's platforms.
