Dear Sir or Madam,
As an EU citizen and regular user of your websites, I am writing to ask the European Union to review and change the default âshare this pageâ options on official EU web pages hosted on europa.eu domain and subdomains.
Currently, many EU pages prominently offer sharing via large, centralised platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and LinkedIn. This practice has several negative consequences:
- 1.
It gives preferential brand visibility and de facto promotion to a small group of dominant, mostly nonâEuropean platforms.
- 2.
It reinforces surveillanceâcapitalism business models that conflict with the Unionâs own ambitions in the fields of fundamental rights, data protection and digital sovereignty.
- 3.
It sidelines open, interoperable and decentralised alternatives that are more aligned with EU values and policies.
The EU should not pre-select a few dominant commercial platforms as the default route for sharing public information when a platform-neutral technical standard already exists.
I respectfully request that the EU:
- 1.
Remove âshare via X / Facebook / LinkedInâ links from official EU websites.
- 2.
Provide neutral, privacyârespecting sharing options such as:
âShare via eâmailâ (using a simple mailto: link)
Use the Web Share API as the primary sharing mechanism. This would allow users to choose their own preferred sharing destination through their device or browserâs native share sheet, instead of the EU pre-selecting and promoting a handful of private platforms. The Web Share API is specifically designed to let websites share links and other content to user-selected targets
âCopy linkâ (so people can share in the tools and networks of their choice).
- 3.
Explicitly support open and decentralised protocols and services, for example by:
Allowing âShare on Blueskyâ by linking to the public URL composer (e.g. https://bsky.app/intent/compose?text=âŠ) or similar.
Allowing a âShare on Mastodonâ button or via a simple URLâcopy workflow.
Ensure that any socialânetworkâspecific links are implemented in a way that does not load thirdâparty trackers or scripts by default (no embedded widgets, pixels or iframes), in line with EU dataâprotection and cookie rules.
This change would be a concrete, highly visible way for the EU to:
- 1.
Demonstrate technological neutrality and avoid favouring specific commercial providers.
- 2.
Encourage the use of open, federated and Europeanâfriendly ecosystems such as ATProto, Mastodon and the wider Fediverse.
- 3.
Better align its own web presence with the principles expressed in legislation such as the GDPR and the DMA, as well as with broader policy discussions on interoperability, platform power and digital rights.
I would be grateful if you could forward this request to the relevant services responsible for the EU web publishing guidelines and socialâmedia policy, and inform me whether any changes are planned in this direction.
Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.
Kind regards,