News publisher flees Elon Musk’s X over ‘disturbing content’ after election
The publication criticises the ‘toxic’ and says it will focus its efforts elsewhere
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Guardian newspaper has announced it is quitting Elon Musk’s X because it is a “toxic” social media platform.
In an article on the publication’s website, the Guardian said the “benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives” and will focus its efforts to promote its journalism elsewhere.
Reporters have been told they can remain on X with their personal profiles, but the newspaper will no longer be posting on the social media platform.
The Guardian and its sister publication Observer run around 40 active X accounts with over 20 million followers.
“This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism,” the article said.
“The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.”
The Guardian’s X bio now reads: “This account has been archived”.
Last year, US news outlets like NPR and PBS departed X after being classified as state-affiliated media under regulations Musk introduced.
Following Mr Trump's presidential victory last Wednesday, thousands of users have switched from X to its rival app Bluesky.
Bluesky, which was first introduced as a research project by Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, has gained over 1 million users in the last week and has grown close to 15 million users.
While Mr Dorsey was still in charge of Twitter, development began in 2019 on a "decentralised" version of the service. Following Musk's acquisition, it was spun off and formally launched last year.
Jay Graber, the app's CEO, now owns the majority of the business and runs it independently. It raised $15 million (£12 million) from investors Blockchain Capital in October.
Under Musk’s ownership, X has changed its verification process, reinstated banned accounts, and allowed blocked users to view people’s posts.
Research released earlier this month also found Musk appeared to have been artificially boosting his posts on X since mid July to promote pro-Trump content.
Many of these posts on X were either supporting the Republican candidate or undermining the campaign of his Democratic rival Kamala Harris, with the increase in views and retweets occurring at a much higher rate in comparison with other prominent political accounts on the app.
“This raises suspicions as to whether Musk has tweaked the platform’s algorithm to increase the reach of his posts in advance of the US presidential election,” wrote Timothy Graham, an associate professor in digital media at Queensland University of Technology and Mark Andrejevic, a professor in media at Monash University, who undertook the research.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments