If you are familiar with the founders of Wikipedia, Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales, you will know how much the two despise popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter who have all turned into hubs for the spread of fake news.
Jimmy Wales launched an online publication called WikiTribune to share news articles. Now, the Wikipedia co-founder has a social media site to rival the two social media giants.
Unlike how Facebook and Twitter operates, WT:Social doesn't rely on advertisement to generate revenue. Wales says adopting the advertising method will lead to low-quality content.
Wales also thinks the advertising idea isn't OK because "the business model of social media companies, of pure advertising, is problematic." He says his social platform will work on pure donations by generous donors.
In terms of the negativity surrounding popular social network sites, WT:Social clearly states that they "will foster an environment where bad actors are removed because it is right, not because it suddenly affects our bottom-line."
WT:Social will display the latest articles for users unlike Facebook and Twitter that use algorithm to display posts with the most engagement at the top in users feed.
For now, there is no "Like" button or something similar on the platform, an "Upvote" button might be added sometime in the future.
Currently, there are 117795 people on the wait list to join the network. However, you can sign up on the website, invite your friends and make donations.