Today’s social media giants thrive on extreme emotion and prioritise a dopamine hit above all else. Rising scepticism towards mainstream media in Europe is driving people to a fragmented online ecosystem rife with manipulated and extreme content – something many Europeans know could have devastating effects on democracy.

My algorithm, apparently sensing my fatigue, started showing me adverts for European social media platforms promising civility, transparency, and informed debate. Was this even possible in the cesspit of today's internet? I decided to investigate.

My plan: download three social media apps created in Europe, spend roughly an hour scrolling and posting on them each day, and by the end of the week, judge which (if any) I could see myself using instead of Meta or X.

The winner: eYou

My favourite platform launched earlier this month: eYou, founded by Romania-based French entrepreneurs Jasseem Allybokus and Grégoire Vigroux, wants to “restore trust online without sacrificing usability or enjoyment”. Its scrollable timeline and “pulse” tab, which compiles news articles from Reuters and AFP, give the homepage an X-like feel (with – thankfully – less far-right imagery).

Posts on eYou get instantly moderated and labelled “verified” or “false”. Beneath my proclamation that “the sky is green and every March meatballs fall to earth”, there is a red dot flagging the information as untrue.

Co-founder Vigroux told me there are 10 LLMs (Large Language Models) behind this: “You have several that compete with one another in order to provide the best possible fact-checking. If you pick just one, it comes with subjectivity from the country where it was developed.”

Of course, even this system can miss emerging information or fail on niche topics, but so far it seems to be working well.

When I posted an open call asking how people were finding eYou so far, one user wrote: “What I like here is the fact I don’t feel like the algorithm’s slave, or on an open tribunal.” For the 50,000 of us who were first in the door using eYou, the platform appears off to a solid start.

The runner-up: Monnett

Monnett, created by Christos Flores, has no algorithm and offers a chronological feed that shows only content from people you follow. Its interface is intuitive to anyone who's spent time on Instagram, and soon you'll be able to send direct messages to other users.

Monnett reports over 75,000 users since launching last year, so clearly there's demand for a post-algorithm space on the internet where “your community is yours to reach”.

It was user-friendly and refreshingly uncompulsive, but to get the most out of the app's features, you need people you know to be using it. As it grows, I can see burnt-out Instagram users embracing it as an alternative.

The old reliable: BeReal

In 2022, the world lost its mind over BeReal. Its premise felt so novel: at a time of day decided by the app, take a photo of what you're doing and upload it.

Returning to BeReal after a two-year hiatus reminded me of why it was so fun in the first place: it doesn’t take you away from moments you should be present for. Rather, having to capture what you're doing at random times of the day makes everyday moments feel special.

That said, I quickly remembered why I deleted the app; the bugs that plagued BeReal two years ago are very much still there and get in the way of the experience.

The verdict

With my head much clearer than it was a week ago, I've been pleasantly surprised by Europe's answer to Big Tech, and I'll definitely be keeping the apps on my home screen. Even if I don't use them as much as Meta or TikTok at the moment, I can see turning to them when the former become too overwhelming. Most options seem less interested in maximising engagement at all costs.

Their challenge is scale. Building a healthier social network is one thing, convincing millions of Europeans to leave Instagram, TikTok, and X might be trickier.

As we've previously reported, alternative social media platforms face the challenge of “network effects”: people want to be where their friends (or fans) already are. And that might be the biggest obstacle.