New petition
New petition

Networks for
democracy.

The free internet is being destroyed.

Let's save it!

Together we will write history

What we do

Who owns the internet?

The free internet is being destroyed – it has been taken over by the big tech monopolies. The growing dominance of the platform giants in the fields of information and communication is leading to a concentration of influence over public opinion that threatens our democracy.

But the internet belongs to us all; we must liberate it from the dominance of these monopolies: our society needs social networking, communication and debate platforms other than those run by Chinese and US monopolies.

Link in Bio? not with us!

Our new petition

Our Advisory Board

  • Lächelnde Person mit lockigem Haar, das Kinn auf die Hände gestützt, vor einem Bücherregal.
    Foto: Heike Blenck

    Nina George

    Writer and Honorary President of the European Writers' Council (EWC).

  • Person mit großer Brille, den Kopf in die Hand gestützt.
    Foto: Kerstin Behrendt

    Rocko Schamoni

    Writer, director, musician, artist

  • Lächelnde Person mit langem hellem Haar, Pony und dunkler Brille.
    Foto: Kay Herschelman

    Sandra Goldschmidt

    Regional Director of ver.di Hamburg and Deputy Chair of the NDR Broadcasting Council

  • Lächelnde Person mit kurzem, strubbeligem Haar.
    Foto: Florian Lechner

    Martin Andree

    Author and media studies scholar

  • Person mit hochgestecktem Haar, Blazer und gemustertem Oberteil.
    Foto: Frank Sonnenberg

    Hanna Möllers

    German Journalists’ Association (DJV)

  • Person mit Schiebermütze und Vollbart vor einer Ziegelwand.

    Marc-Uwe Kling

    Author

  • Person mit Basecap und Brille, Pullover über kariertem Hemd.

    Sascha Pallenberg

    Tech blogger

  • Lächelnde Person mit Kinnbart und kariertem Hemd.

    Sascha Foerster

    Managing Director, Bonn.digital

  • Lächelnde Person mit langem glattem Haar und Ohrringen.
    Foto: Alena Klinger

    Melanie Bartos

    Science communicator and public relations officer, University of Innsbruck

  • Person mit Glatze und dunkler Brille, von unten fotografiert.

    Paul Nemitz

    Visiting Professor Of Law, College of Europe

  • Lachende Person mit Glatze und Dreitagebart.
    Foto: Johannes Wulf

    Björn Staschen

    Co-founder of Save Social

Who we are

What we do

  • Historisches Gebäude am Tempelhofer Ufer in Berlin-Kreuzberg im Juni 2017: großes Haus mit hellbeiger Fassade und rotem Satteldach
    A.Savin, Wikipedia

    European Social Stack

    Through the Newsmast Foundation, Save Social aims to establish the ‘European Social Stack’ as a decentralised infrastructure based on open protocols in Europe.

  • Zwei Personen knien auf einem Parkettboden und schauen gemeinsam auf einen Laptop, eine davon tippt auf der Tastatur.

    DI.DAY

    Digital Independence Day (DI.DAY) is an international movement campaigning for greater digital sovereignty. Let’s switch together, every first Sunday of the month.

  • Gäste mit grünen 2MR-Lanyards unterhalten sich lachend an einem Stehtisch im Foyer der Bucerius Law School, dahinter Roll-ups von 2MR, Save Social und DI.DAY.
    Foto: Andreas Burkhardt

    2MR

    Communications professionals from the worlds of business, culture, the media and public administration demonstrate how they successfully use open networks without Big Tech.

Everything we are doing

What we already achieved

Latest articles

All Articles

Questions?

All FAQs

Who or what exactly is Save Social?

We are a not-for-profit organisation (gemeinnützige Unternehmergesellschaft, gUG) that was founded in the summer of 2025 with the support of a broad network of people and organisations. Our aim is to safeguard the democratic power of social media. The work of Save Social was initiated by a petition which gathered more than a quarter of a million signatures in the spring of 2026. Today, building on the text of this petition, the initiative coordinates this broad network and drives initiatives against Big Tech and in favour of open social networks that strengthen democracy. More about that on Who we are

How exactly does Save Social do that?

Our work rests on three pillars: Firstly, we aim to persuade as many organisations, individuals and communities as possible to switch to better social networks. Secondly, to ensure these networks reach a wide audience, we are working to improve the framework for open platforms in Europe: for example, the operation of platforms serving the public good should urgently be recognised as a charitable activity. And additional funding is needed to make open platforms a credible alternative to the major Big Tech monopolies from the US and China. Thirdly, we engage with many politicians and decision-makers at state, federal and European level to advance our goals through lobbying.

What are Save Social’s political views?

Save Social is committed to preserving democracy – a goal that should unite all democrats from left to right. We therefore see ourselves as non-partisan and independent of the political objectives of individual parties.

How do you fund your work?

We are funded exclusively by donations, both large and small. The many small donations we receive from our supporters are particularly important to us. In addition, since 2026 we have also been supported by the Rossmann chemists’ chain and the search engine Ecosia – a commitment by two European commercial enterprises to champion digital sovereignty.