Media. The daily “Ouest-France” announces that it will suspend its publications on the social network

This is a first for a French daily. West France leaves the social network X (formerly Twitter), owned by American billionaire Elon Musk. A few days ago after the British daily The Guardianthe Spanish newspaper The Vanguard and the Swede Today’s News announced a similar decision.

“We are not against social networks […] we are simply asking for the application of the law” on X, declared François-Xavier Lefranc, chairman of the management board ofWest Francespecifying that this decision was taken “fairly unanimously internally”. “Unless it becomes a regulated space that respects people,” West France “will not return” to X, he stressed. “This decision is final […] We don’t do this to change our minds in 15 days. »

West France accuses X of “contributing to the poisoning of public debate”

On X, the account West France posted a “last tweet, for now.” In a press release, West France considers it “neither judicious nor appropriate to be active, as long as serious guarantees are not taken in the face of disinformation, harassment and violence”. “Today, vital to democracy.

West France recalls having slowed down the pace of its publications on X since October 27, 2023 “as a sign of protest against 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,” he judges.

Bluesky, alternative to X, crosses the 20 million registered mark

The Bluesky social network, which operates similar to that of X, has more than 20 million registered users since Tuesday afternoon.

On Monday, Bluesky announced that it was registering one million new users per day. The platform had 10 million users in mid-September and 16 million on Friday November 15. Initially created and funded by Twitter itself, when the network was then led by its co-founder Jack Dorsey, Bluesky opened to the general public in February 2023 on Apple’s iOS operating system and at the end of March on Android . It is now headed by Jay Grabber, general director of the platform.