European alternatives to Facebook
The social network that became Meta, still central to how billions share and are advertised to. Its entire business is surveillance-based advertising, run on US infrastructure and repeatedly fined under GDPR.
Company information about Facebook
- Company
- Meta Platforms
- Headquarters
- Menlo Park, United States
- Founded
- 2004
- Data jurisdiction
- United States
- Ownership
- Publicly traded
- GDPR
- No
- Open source
- No
- Infrastructure
- Own infrastructure
Why people switch away from Facebook
Cambridge Analytica and a record fine
Meta paid a then-record $5 billion FTC fine in 2019 after the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed tens of millions of users' data had been harvested without consent for political targeting.
Found to breach EU rules on design
The European Commission found in 2026 that Facebook's autoplay, infinite scroll and recommendation systems likely breach the DSA's rules on protecting users' wellbeing, with fines of up to 6% of global revenue possible.
Moderators report trauma
Kenyan contractors moderating Meta's platforms sued the company in 2022, alleging exposure to graphic content caused PTSD while paying a fraction of comparable US wages.
Everyday annoyances
- Feed favours engagement over friends. The algorithmic feed prioritises whatever drives engagement, often burying posts from friends and family behind Groups, ads and Reels.
- Marketplace scams persist. Facebook Marketplace has a well-documented problem with scam listings and fake buyers that moderation hasn't fully solved.
- Ad load keeps growing. Sponsored posts appear every few items in the feed, and ad-targeting settings are buried several menus deep.
- Account recovery is a maze. Locked or hacked accounts often require navigating automated appeal forms with little direct human support.
- Old posts resurface unprompted. 'On this day' and algorithmic resurfacing can unearth years-old posts with little control over what gets brought back.
European alternatives to Facebook
German non-profit social network founded by Eugen Rochko in 2016. Federated and open-source, with no ads, no algorithms, and no single point of control. Used by 47M+ accounts across 80,000+ independent servers. Hosts the European Commission's official server.
Open-source federated photo sharing platform built on ActivityPub. Choose a European instance or self-host for full data sovereignty. No ads, no algorithms, no data mining. Major EU-hosted instances include pixelfed.social and pixelfed.de. Available on iOS and Android.
French open-source federated event platform originally created by Framasoft and now maintained by French non-profit Kaihuri. Organise events and groups without ads, tracking, or data exploitation. Federated via ActivityPub: host your own instance or join an existing one.
French social app that sends a daily random notification prompting users to share an unfiltered two-minute photo. Founded in Paris in 2020, acquired by French mobile publisher Voodoo in 2024 for €500M. 40M+ active users.
Want more options? Browse all European Social media & communities alternatives →
People also replace
X (Twitter) 
Instagram 
LinkedIn 
TikTok 
Meetup 
Eventbrite Start somewhere.
Switching everything overnight is not realistic. Start where it matters most: your email, your cloud storage, your business tools. Replace one thing at a time.
The European Alternative already exists.
Pick Europe.
Why avoid United States-owned services?
CLOUD Act
Forces US companies to hand over data stored anywhere in the world upon government request, including data on European servers.
FISA Section 702
Authorises mass surveillance of non-US persons using data held by US tech platforms, without a warrant or notification.
GDPR vs US law conflict
EU courts have repeatedly found that US surveillance law conflicts with European fundamental rights. Schrems I and II both invalidated EU-US data transfer agreements.