The Alliance “Open Networks“ on the conference for FOSS development
FOSEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers‘ European Meeting) will take place in Brussels this weekend. Talks on topics related to open source and digital infrastructures will be held in more than 30 themed rooms.
Our alliance will be represented on 31. 1. 2026 in the Social Web Room. Cofounder Sandra Barthel will give a talk : “The Social Web and Digital Sovereignty: Building Social Advocacy Networks in and for Europe.” https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/RCV98B-the-social-web-and-digital-sovereignty
Why is the alliance necessary, what are our demands, and why do we need to broaden the debate on digital sovereignty?
In the same room, there will also be further talks by alliance organisations on the topics of Fediverse and the social web. Hannah Aubry from Mastodon will talk about community building: “Tending the Herd: Community at Mastodon“ https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/HJYRFF-tending-the-herd
Björn Staschen of Save Social will talk about: “Reaching out to the wider society: Why the open social web needs to matter to more people – and how we can achieve that goal” https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/9MTT3F-reaching_out/
Our alliance friends at Fedivariety discuss their research project “Fediverse Integration into (EU) Public Administration – A Fantastic FediVariety Circus”https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/PGB9VZ-a-fantastic-fedivariety-circus/
Tobias from FSFE presents developments at Friendica in his talk“Friendica – Hidden in plain sight since 2025” https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/DNS7Z8-friendica_-_hidden_in_plain_sight_since_2025/
On Sunday from 11:50 to 12:20, there will also be a panel discussion: “The Fediverse and the EU’s Digital Services Act: solving the challenges of modern social media?“ https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/W8RCMT-the_fediverse_and_the_eus_digital_services_act_solving_the_challenges_of_modern_/
Alexandra Geese (EFA), Felix Hlatky (Mastodon) und Sandra will take part in this discussion. You can follow it via Livestream at https://live.fosdem.org/watch/ua2118
All talkswill be streamed live: https://live.fosdem.org/watch/h2215
Follow us: https://eupolicy.social/@offene_netzwerke or use #fosdem26 and discuss our demands: https://offene-netzwerke.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Paper_Alliance-Open-Networks-and-Democratic-Public-Sphere_251130.pdf
