<
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/nov/13/the-guardian-no-longer-post-on-x-twitter-elon-musk>
"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, 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 about which it had longstanding
concerns 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."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
