OTTAWA — Ben Waldman didn’t set out to build a social media platform—then along came U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and threats of turning Canada into the “51st state.” For Waldman, an Ottawa-based creative director used to working with museums and nonprofits, the rhetoric triggered a bunch of fears, including over Canada’s digital dependence on its noisy neighbour.

“I looked around and asked, ‘Is there a Canadian social media platform?’ Because this is their time to shine,” Waldman said. When he realized no such platform existed, he started building one.

Gander Social is a federated platform built on the same open-source protocol as Bluesky. Waldman describes it as a community-first alternative designed to elevate Canadian voices. It’s still in development, but the core idea is in place: a social space where users, not algorithms, set the tone—and where almost all data is stored and processed in Canada. 

The timing isn’t accidental. Gander’s development coincides with a growing wave of frustration over foreign control of major tech platforms in Canada. Meta continues to block all news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada in response to government rules around news funding; late last year, TikTok was ordered to shut down its Canadian operation due to national security fears and Elon Musk’s X was found to be spreading mis- and disinformation ahead of the recent federal election. Such incidents have left some Canadians feeling uneasy.“It’s unfortunate that it took events like this for the rest of us to take notice,” Waldman said. “That threat is very real.”

“There’s been a lot of conversation around just how much of our digital infrastructure is based in the U.S., subject to U.S. laws, and how little has actually been produced in Canada,” he said. 

Waldman sees Gander as a digital reflection of the “Elbows Up, Canada!” vibe, a movement, of sorts, where Canadians are reassessing their identity and agency, online and off. He recalls attending one of the first Elbows Up rallies on Parliament Hill. Many people discussed issues of Canadian control over energy, data and culture. “Nobody else is going to do anything about this,” he said. “And then I thought of Bluesky and remembered it was open-source.”

The open-source system behind Gander, known as the AT Protocol, will mean control over the social network is decentralized, or federalized, rather than it being subject to the whims of billionaires. Unlike traditional social media platforms, where accounts, content and social graphs are locked inside proprietary systems, AT allows people to move freely between compatible networks. Waldman describes it as similar to the ability to move your email account from one company to another. 

The technology also enables what Waldman calls user-directed discovery. This will let people find others on the network based on geography, interests and intent rather than engagement metrics. 

“Once upon a time, you would go into Facebook and see your friends and your family,” Waldman said. “Not anymore. Canadians get sidelined simply by population numbers.” The effect of that, he said, is that Canadian voices often get drowned out by the sheer volume of Americans. “Say you’re a life coach, and you need to compete with another life coach in New York, Chicago, whatever. No matter how good you are, no matter how flashy you are, you’re going to be limited in reach.”

Gander Social, then, is an opportunity to raise Canadian voices, at least in its first iteration. He said the platform will be open to the world, but built in Canada and based on Canadian values and laws.

One of the things that sets it apart is its focus on moderation. Waldman said moderation on Gander will be based on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. There is freedom of speech, but no room for hate speech. There is respect for healthy discourse, but no tolerance for bots and trolls. 

Aside from a robust verification system and the security of the platform—pieces of the puzzle still being worked out—bias and fact-checking are top priorities, Waldman said. “We’re utilizing Bluesky’s own moderation tools, and we’re working with some folks whose names I can’t mention until they sign the dotted line, but they’re some of the leading minds in disinformation,” he added.

Gander has been bootstrapped thus far. Waldman has brought on a small team to explore funding options ahead of a beta launch later this year. The company is incorporated federally, and he has people managing everything from marketing to operations. Their goal is to reach B Corp certification at some point in the future, while adhering to Canadian laws. 

Waldman isn’t the only Canadian building a social network. B.C.-based tech entrepreneur Jessica Glowacki is preparing to launch Eh!, a mobile-first social app focused on local discovery. 

“It’s built for the hustlers, the dreamers, the community builders,” Glowacki said. “It’s people who want to be seen. The small businesses. And you know what? It’s really hard to be seen right now.”

Unlike Gander’s federated structure, Eh! is a closed system built from the ground up, with a strong emphasis on surfacing things nearby, like events and small businesses. Glowacki envisions it as “unapologetically Canadian,” powered by sentiment-aware AI moderation and partnerships with Canadian companies. The platform is currently in alpha testing, with a public pre-launch set for Web Summit Vancouver next week.

Still, neither Gander nor Eh! has released a working product yet. Getting people to sign up and stick around in a country dominated by Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will be a mammoth task. Still, of the 71 per cent of Canadians who use social media daily, only a small fraction trust those platforms, according to Statistics Canada data. That disconnect is what founders like Waldman are betting on. 

“This is more like a call to arms,” he said. “And it’s got to be done.”