British News Publisher Guardian Quits Elon Musk’s X, Says Social Media Platform Is Racist, Toxic
The Guardian has announced its decision not to publish posts on X.
In its statement, the Guardian cited the presence of offensive content on the platform, such as racist and conspiracy-driven materials.
With a following of 10.7 million on X, the Guardian becomes the first prominent media organization in the United Kingdom to opt out of X.
Critics argue that Elon Musk, the owner of X, fails to address the issue of harmful content on his platform.
In a report published on Wednesday titled: “Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X,” the outlet clarified that while they will stop posting from its official editorial accounts on the platform, however, X users can still share their articles.
The report partly read: “We wanted to let readers know that we will no longer post on any official Guardian editorial accounts on the social media site X (formerly Twitter). We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere.
“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 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.
“X users will still be able to share our articles, and the nature of live news reporting means we will still occasionally embed content from X within our article pages.
“Our reporters will also be able to carry on using the site for news-gathering purposes, just as they use other social networks in which we do not officially engage.”
The newspaper further explained that social media can be an important tool for news organisations that will help to reach new audiences but, maintained that “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.
“Thankfully, we can do this because our business model does not rely on viral content tailored to the whims of the social media giants’ algorithms – instead we’re funded directly by our readers,” the Guardian said in an editorial published on its website.
Elon Musk, who lent his support to Donald Trump ahead of the latter’s electoral victory in the United States this month, has stated that he is standing up for the freedom of speech.
On Tuesday, Trump appointed Musk to a position aimed at enhancing the efficiency of government operations.
The roles of X and other platforms have come under scrutiny in the United Kingdom this year following a surge in far-right and racially motivated violence, which erupted after online posts disseminated false claims that an incident in Southport, a town in northern England, where three young girls lost their lives, was perpetrated by an Islamist immigrant.
According to reports by Reuters, British law enforcement agencies have ceased posting on X, and several others are reviewing their involvement.
In recent months, several British charities, including those focused on health and education, have announced their decision to discontinue their presence on X.
Despite these developments, the British government continues to engage with X, although it refrains from using it for paid communication. However, as reported by Reuters last month, the government does engage in advertising on Meta’s platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
