A Canadian-built social media platform is launching nationally on Canada Day, positioning itself as an alternative centred on privacy, data sovereignty and human-first online interactions. The platform aims to distinguish itself through Canadian infrastructure, identity verification and a different approach to moderation.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Ben Waldman, founder of Gander Social, about the platform’s national launch, how it has grown through beta testing and equity crowdfunding, and its plans to build a Canadian-owned social network.
Key Takeaways
- Gander Social is launching nationally on July 1 after growing to roughly 20,000 users during its beta phase.
- The platform verifies that users are human before allowing them to post, comment or chat while limiting the personal information it collects.
- The service is built on Canadian infrastructure designed to keep user data under Canadian jurisdiction.
- Gander Social plans to expand by partnering with organizations that can operate their own servers while retaining control of their data and content.
- The company’s revenue strategy includes enterprise services, advertising and optional subscription features.
Read the full transcript below:
ROGER: A new Canadian social media platform is set to launch on Canada Day. Gander Social, a crowdfunded app, is promising greater data sovereignty and a stronger sense of connection. Ahead of the launch, we’re talking to Ben Waldman, founder of Gander Social. Ben, thanks for joining us again. I think we talked a couple of months ago. Where are you now? I mean, obviously you’re a day away from a launch, but what’s changed in those last two months?
BEN: Yeah, so, I mean, we’ve gone from an incredible beta. You know, most apps that start in this way, you get, you know, 20 beta testers, 100, 200 maybe. We’ve had 10,000 people beta testing this with us, and it’s been incredible. We’ve got a community that’s already there, and they’re super proactive. They’ve been involved with all of the bugs and all of the improvements over time, and yeah, they’ve invited their friends and family. We’re now at 20,000 people and ready to launch this nationally.
ROGER: And with your, you did crowdfunding. Is it all crowdfunding for your funds?
BEN: Largely. So, what we did was we did equity crowdfunding. So, these are retail investors. We have 2,500 partners in Canada, retail investors who all invested in Gander, and we raised $2 million that way.
ROGER: So what are those people... I mean, do you have a chance to talk with those people and to ask why they’re doing this? Because, I mean, it’s a tough market, I imagine, to crack, the social media market.
BEN: Yeah, we... I mean, all we do is talk to those people, more or less. It’s... social media needs to change. They’re no different than anybody else. We all see how toxic social media has become with the bots, the trolls, just constant outrage, the dopamine roller coaster being taken advantage of. Like, the user is the product, and people have really become tired of it. And so it’s time for something different, and those people have chosen something better.
ROGER: And how are you going to manage to keep all the negative out of social media? What are you using to do that?
BEN: Well, so we’ve kind of flipped the model on its head. So, you know, social media has grown to a place where really it’s the outrage, and it’s all of the divisiveness, and, you know, the emotional side of things that keeps people hooked and addicted to it and keeps eyeballs on it. And we’ve come to realize that there’s room for a positive space in there, and for humans. And so what we’re doing is, anyone who wants to post, comment or chat on Gander... You can join Gander and browse. Anybody can come and do that. But at the moment that you want to interact with other people, you have to prove you’re human. And so we’re doing verification on Gander. You can verify using, like, an institutional email, a university or a union, an association. But then we’re working with Canada Post for using their Identity+ app. You basically download another app, you verify with them, and they send us two signals: Are you a human, and are you an adult? If those things are true, we get no other data. They delete your verification, your ID, and you’re free to post on Gander.
ROGER: Now, is that going to exclude people, though, trying to join if they’re not at an institution of some type? Or... and how many people have the post office code there?
BEN: Well, so I don’t actually have an update on how many people, like on hand anyway, are using the two different methods. But really, the nice thing about Canada Post is you can use its app, so you download another app if you choose. And if you don’t want to use an app, you can actually go into any Canada Post location and verify that way. I don’t expect many people will, but if that’s something that you prefer to do, then you absolutely can.
ROGER: And now you mentioned that you have 18,000 members. The official launch is on Canada Day. How do you see it growing, and how do you plan to try to grow it?
BEN: So, I think we’re actually probably closer to 20,000 now.
ROGER: Okay, 20,000. Sorry. Yes, you mentioned that. My apologies.
BEN: Yeah, I can just kind of see things growing. And, I mean, look, people are coming in naturally. Obviously, we’re doing a bunch of marketing, a bunch of media, and people are wanting something different, and so they’re kind of coming to Gander for it over time. We do see the ability to work with force multipliers, so to speak. So the way that the platform is built is it’s on sovereign, truly sovereign Canadian infrastructure, meaning it’s not subject to the CLOUD Act or to the Patriot Act. And the way it works is we can bring multiple servers to this network, and that’s the plan, is to do that across Canada with universities, with unions, with associations, with research groups, et cetera, so that they have control over their own data, they control their own content. They bring their own server into the game. It remains sovereign. It remains safe, and a place where Canadians can have a voice and not feel inundated by U.S. voices or U.S. culture or U.S. tech.
ROGER: And how do you protect... I mean, are they relying on their own security system to protect their data, or are you adding a layer as well?
BEN: So that is one of the things that we’re aiming to provide. So this network itself is open source, and we will be providing our open-source contribution to that that will enable organizations to do that themselves. But we feel like there’s a market opportunity because, let’s face it, most people don’t want to spend the time or money to try to figure it out, where we can actually provide that as an enterprise solution for Canadian organizations that want to participate.
ROGER: Okay, and revenue. Where do you see the revenue coming from? How do you generate it?
BEN: Well, so that’s one of them. It’s called Wingspan, and that’s our enterprise offering, and that’s still in the works, but there’s been a lot of interest from various organizations in that. And we’ve actually got our first revenue now. We have our first advertisers on the platform, and then a ton of users who would like to subscribe, would like to actually pay for additional features on the platform. And so it’s actually turning out quite well for such a small start.
ROGER: All right, and who gets the first... what do you call it again? Who gets the first post, I guess? Well, we’ve got to come up with a name for it again.
BEN: Oh, for a post?
ROGER: Yeah. So, who’s first? Who has the official honours?
BEN: Who posted first? So, I mean, it’s been a while. I think I was the first post, and I think I posted about John Allaire here in Ottawa, to the John Allaire show. I posted a video from one of his concerts at a pub and just said this was a Canadian way to do it kind of thing.
ROGER: All right, Ben, we’ve got to wrap it up there. But good luck. Good luck with it, and thank you for joining us.
BEN: Thanks so much. Check us out at GanderSocial.ca, and yeah, you can join anytime.
ROGER: All right. Ben Waldman, founder of Gander Social.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the June 30, 2026 interview with Ben Waldman are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
