A Canadian-built social media platform positioning itself as an alternative to dominant global networks is gaining momentum as interest grows in privacy-focused and values-driven technology.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Ben Waldman, CEO of Gander Social, about its crowdfunding campaign, the platform’s approach to user safety and why it is pursuing subscription-based revenue instead of advertising.
Key Takeaways
- A Canadian social media platform has raised $1.5 million and is working toward a $2.5 million maximum crowdfunding offering.
- The platform is positioning itself as an alternative to ad-driven networks by focusing on privacy, user safety and reduced algorithmic manipulation.
- Human verification and built-in context for news content are central to efforts to limit bots, misinformation and abuse.
- A subscription-based revenue model is being developed instead of relying primarily on advertising.
- Early demand is evident, with tens of thousands of users on a waitlist ahead of a broader beta rollout.
Read the full transcript below:
ROGER: Gander Social, a Canadian-built, values-driven social media platform, raised $1.5 million this month and is moving toward a $2.5 million maximum offering that will be available until the end of January. Here to talk about the Canadian — we were hoping to have Ben Waldman, but we’ve just lost him and we’re going to try to reconnect. In the meantime, let’s move on to notable calls right now, and when we get Ben on, we’ll bring him right in.
Some of the notable calls we’re watching today include DigitalBridge. It’s received two new analyst ratings this morning. The global digital infrastructure investment firm has been cut to sector perform at RBC, with a price target of US$16. TD Cowen has also cut its rating from buy to hold, with the same US$16 price target. This comes on the back of yesterday’s SoftBank acquisition announcement.
As for initiations, GF Securities has initiated coverage of Alphabet with a buy rating and a price target of US$396.92.
Let’s get back to Gander. It is a Canadian-built, values-driven social media platform that has raised $1.5 million this month and is hoping to reach $2.5 million for its maximum offering by the end of January. Joining us now is the co-founder and CEO, Ben Waldman. Ben, thanks for joining us — technology sometimes, eh?
BEN: Yes, apparently. I don’t know if it’s the ice storms or what, but good morning to you.
ROGER: So the question is, does Canada need a new social media platform?
BEN: I’m not sure anybody needs new social media if it’s going to be the same as it’s always been. I think that’s really our aim — to do something different, move away from the manipulation that has driven social media over the last decade and deliver something new that doesn’t use people as the product.
ROGER: How are you going to do that? What’s going to make you different?
BEN: First of all, we’re a small company. You saw what we’ve raised so far — we’re at about $1.7 million right now. That is not Facebook money. So we have to be scrappy.
Rather than trying to fight bots and trolls with AI and massive moderation teams, we’ve chosen a different route. We detect whether users are human from the outset. If someone wants to post, comment or chat, they have to verify that they’re human — and we do that without storing personal data.
That’s the main way we’re aiming to keep out some of the more nefarious users. Another thing we’re doing is around news. On Gander, users will be able to post news, but that will come with media-bias indicators and fact-checking alongside it, so users can see where content is leaning and how well it’s been verified.
PAUL: Hi, it’s Paul Harris. Ben, is that what you mean when you say the platform is values-driven? Can you speak to that? And is it easy to raise money for something like this in the current environment?
BEN: Sure. On the values side, one thing we’ve seen is that we have laws in Canada and we have a Charter, but those laws aren’t always respected on major platforms. Our aim is to make sure local laws are enforced in Canada, and the same approach as we expand elsewhere.
The other part of our values is accessibility and user protection — protecting people from misinformation, disinformation, bots and trolls.
On raising money, we initially went the venture capital route. What we found was that alignment was difficult. In a competitive space like social media, investors are often looking for unicorn growth and a clear exit. That’s not really what we’re doing.
We’re a benefit company, incorporated in B.C., which means we’re committed to both public good and profit. That doesn’t appeal to every investor. We realized that the Canadians who support what we’re building could be our best partners, which is why we chose equity crowdfunding. Maybe social-impact investing comes later — who knows?
ROGER: How many people have invested so far?
BEN: I think we’re nearing about 2,200 people right now — don’t quote me exactly. Investments range from about $255, and on average we’re seeing roughly $8,000 to $10,000, with many smaller investors and a few larger ones.
PAUL: I assume, like other social media platforms, revenue would come from advertising. Is that the case?
BEN: You would assume wrong.
A big part of the direction social media has taken is driven by ad revenue — more eyeballs, algorithms that feed addiction, division and outrage. We’re taking a different tack. Advertising won’t be our main revenue source.
We’re using a subscription model for additional features and role-based use. For example, businesses that need multiple users or administrators may pay for that. We’re also building a decentralized network, allowing organizations to host their own servers, manage their own users and keep control of their data.
That opens up opportunities with governments, universities, NGOs and small businesses through what we call Wingspan, our social cloud service. That will be another revenue stream, and we’re experimenting with others as well.
ROGER: We’re almost out of time, but quickly — have you launched yet?
BEN: We’re early in beta right now. The team has been using it, and we’ve expanded to friends and family. We’re ironing out bugs — we just added chat in the last few days.
There are about 36,000 people on the waitlist, including roughly 10,000 who want to beta test. We’ll start onboarding in the new year, with a goal of reaching about 36,000 to 37,000 users by mid to late March.
ROGER: We’ll have to leave it there. Ben, thank you for joining us, and all the best in the new year.
BEN: Thank you very much. Have a great morning.
ROGER: Ben Waldman is co-founder and CEO of Gander Social.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Dec. 30, 2025 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.
