Worldline [Euronext: WLN], the European market leader in payment and transaction services, has been selected as a partner of the European Union-funded project HELIOS.
By providing its expertise in the areas of system and privacy security and rewarding functionalities, Worldline is in the core of what is expected to become a truly European social network.
Investing in innovation is a critical strategic priority for Worldline, especially in the age of digital transformation and becoming a partner of the project HELIOS further demonstrates its commitment to Research & Development (R&D) and innovation projects.
Along with 15 partners, including world-renowned universities and research centres across Europe, Worldline is the only payment and transaction services provider to participate in this project that is set to redefine the future of social networks. With more than 45 years of experience in innovation and its leading-edge, award-winning solutions and expertise, Worldline will be working with all partners in two main areas: security and privacy, and the development of rewarding strategies.
HELIOS is a 3-year Research and Innovation Action project funded by the European Commission as part of its H2020 Programme, working on the development of a decentralised social media platform that will address the dynamic nature of human communication and interactions, and create a setting that provides the users control of three aspects: privacy, ownership, and sharing of content - all of which are stripped away when using any of the mainstream platforms.
By supporting HELIOS project, Worldline looks forward to developing a platform that will allow developers to create easy-to-apply social network functionalities by reducing costs and development complexity, which many are claiming could become the European alternative to the current global social media giants.
HELIOS was created with the aim to create a new social network vision grounded on transparency and verification integrating Blockchain-enabled network architecture to support the highest level of trust and control of the platform. With decentralisation, the platform allows new ways to control content creation and sharing, ensuring the highest level of privacy while complying with all ethical and legal requirements.
Many of the existing and high profile social networks generate an impression that users have total control over their data but in truth, by accepting ‘privacy policies’, they are in fact handing over the power to social media sites to use their data in the way they choose.