The Guardian has announced it will no longer post content on Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, from its official accounts.
In an announcement to readers
on Wednesday, November 13, the news organisation said it considered the
benefits of being on the platform formerly called Twitter were now outweighed
by the negatives, citing the “often disturbing content” found on it.
“We wanted to let readers know that we will no
longer post on any official Guardian editorial accounts on the social media
site X,” the Guardian said.
The Guardian has more than 80
accounts on X with approximately 27 million followers.
The Guardian said content on
the platform included far-right conspiracy theories and racism. It added that
the site’s coverage of the US presidential election had crystallised its
decision.
“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,” it 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.”
Anti-hate speech campaign
groups and the EU have criticised Musk, the world’s richest person, over
content standards on the platform since he bought it for $44bn in 2022.
A self-declared “free speech
absolutist”, the Tesla chief executive has reinstated banned accounts including
those of the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the misogynist influencer Andrew
Tate and the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
The Guardian said X users would
still be able to share its articles across the platform and that posts on X
would occasionally be embedded in its work as part of its live news reporting.
Reporters would also be able to continue using the platform for newsgathering
purposes, the Guardian said.
Although the Guardian’s
official accounts are withdrawing from X, there will be no restrictions on
individual reporters using the site beyond the organisation’s existing social
media guidelines.
“Social media can be an important tool for
news organisations and help us to reach new audiences but at this point X now
plays a diminished role in promoting our work. Our journalism is available and
open to all on our website and we would prefer people to come to
theguardian.com and support our work there,” the Guardian said.
Responding to the announcement,
Musk posted on X that the Guardian was “irrelevant” and a “laboriously vile
propaganda machine”.
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