The regional daily “Ouest-France”, with the highest circulation in France, on Tuesday became the first title in the country to stop publishing on the social network X, owned by American billionaire Elon Musk, following the example of several other European media. “Today, X has turned its back on the media and does not offer the conditions necessary for the peaceful exercise of journalism,” accuses “Ouest-France” in a press release.
Since its acquisition in 2022 by Elon Musk, X (formerly Twitter) has been accused by many media and users of spreading false information and of not allocating enough resources to moderate exchanges on the platform.
A fervent supporter of Donald Trump, the richest man in the world was named head of a ministry of “government efficiency” by the new president-elect of the United States and defends a radical vision of freedom of speech. expression, rejecting any form of censorship.
The daily, whose circulation exceeds 595,000 copies per day, “stops broadcasting” its content on of the Directory of West France. “We are not against social networks (…) we are simply asking for the application of the law on X,” he underlines. “Unless it becomes a regulated space that respects people”, “Ouest-France” “will not return” to X, “we are not doing this to change our minds in two weeks”.
“We can no longer accept that a conversational space like this demolishes people to this extent, that people are insulted, harassed, threatened with death (…) by anonymous accounts from which we cannot remove the anonymity.” For “Ouest-France”, it is no longer “neither judicious nor appropriate to be active there, as long as serious guarantees are not taken in the face of disinformation, in the face of harassment and in the face of violence”. On X, the Ouest-France account posted a “last tweet, for the moment”.
With this announcement, “Ouest-France” becomes the first French newspaper to leave X, a few days after the British daily “The Guardian», the Spanish newspaper “La Vanguardia” and the Swedish “Dagens Nyheter”.
The fact that major newspapers are leaving the social network technology department of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The day before, this French press defense NGO announced that it had filed a complaint against the network, in particular for defamation and dissemination of false news.
“Ouest-France” is also “on trial” against Elon Musk’s network, Mr. Lefranc recalled on Tuesday. Since the end of October 2023, the regional daily had significantly slowed down the pace of its publications on -with regard to the lack of moderation and regulation” on the network. “In one year, it is clear that nothing has improved” and “the rules of the game are now biased,” judges Ouest-France in its press release.
