British daily newspaper The Guardian said on Wednesday it would no longer be posting content on the social media platform .
The newspaper posted a statement on its website explaining the decision.
“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,” the statement began.
‘X is a toxic media platform’
The Guardian said it has become increasingly concerned regarding the “disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.”
According to the media outlet based in London, this has been ramped up further in recent months, as X owner pushed for a return to the White House for .
“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 Trump-Musk relationship
Trump won last week and will be inaugurated in January.
In July, the former president survived an assassination attempt at an election rally in Pennsylvania, prompting .
Since then the billionaire owner of X has used the platform to criticize the Democratic Party, while also promoting the ideals of the Trump campaign.
During a live “X Space” conversation between the pair in August, Trump was given free rein to share his rhetoric, which Musk never challenged, even the former president’s skepticism regarding climate change.
, the key driver of planet-heating pollution, despite previously wanting to move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy, as part of his plan to build the electric car empire, Tesla.
On Tuesday, .
Diminishing returns
Social media users will still be able to share articles on X from The Guardian. The newspaper also said that it would still “occasionally embed content from X within our article pages.”
But The Guardian said while social media “can be an important tool for news organizations and help us to reach new audiences, X now plays a diminished role in promoting our work.”
In 2022, Musk purchased what was then known as Twitter for $44 billion. He promptly changed the platform’s name to X.
The British newspaper has 10.8 million followers on X and was posting content there just four hours before making the announcement. The account now says it has been “archived.”
Neither X nor Musk have so far responded.
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