The exodus of X is structured and embarrasses politicians

The Guardian, West France, Southwest, The Vanguard, Vert… The list of media announcing the suspension of their publications on X is growing. Political and media personalities often anchored on the left, such as Benoît Hamon and Salomé Saqué, followed on X by more than 200,000 people, have also formalized their exodus from the social network. This is also the case for certain NGOs, such as Greenpeace France.

That's it, I deleted my X account (Twitter), a network structured by and for the far right which enriches Elon Musk. I gave up more than 210,000 subscribers and the visibility that went with it, but the game is not worth the effort. Can you help me find an audience here? ☺️

— Salomé Saqué (@salomesaque.bsky.social) November 19, 2024 at 4:53 pm

A more massive exodus than the previous ones

It is obviously the election of Donald Trump and the appointment of Elon Musk in his government which motivated this collective door slamming. All the personalities who leave, or almost, denounce the growing gap between the spirit of Twitter and the political project claimed by its owner since 2022.

But the roots of these decisions remain deeper. Since the takeover of Twitter, the inadequacy of moderation, the provocations of Elon Musk and the algorithmic changes which sideline traditional media and reinforce disinformation, are becoming less and less bearable.

The Guardian thus specifies that he had been thinking of leaving X for some time. “The US presidential campaign has only highlighted what we have long believed: that X is a toxic media platform and its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use his influence to shape political discourse. » Greenpeace France says nothing else. “While no social network is perfect, X has today reached an unprecedented level of toxicity”estimates the organization in a press release issued on November 22.

Bluesky, a refuge for the orphans of X (Twitter)… but not for advertisers

This is not the first time that a wind of revolt has blown through X. But this new exodus seems to take on another dimension. Firstly because it is more massive. When Brazilians were deprived of , according to figures given by the platform. It is said to be gaining around a million users per day since November 15, and has reached 22 million users worldwide in total. Threads, Meta's microblogging platform, also claims 15 million new users in two weeks.

X, state media serving Donald Trump

This exodus also takes a much more political turn. Faced with a social network devoted to a populist president, leaving “save democracy”. In the publication explaining her departure and encouraging her subscribers to do the same, journalist Salomé Saqué declares that “structured by and for the extreme right” and that, although not perfect, Bluesky and Threads, where she calls home, have not made it their mission to “make the far right triumph”.

The arrival of Elon Musk in the Trump administration completely transforms X into a state media outlet, according to some observers. Since the start of the campaign, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has effectively made the social network a major communication medium for Donald Trump, publishing more than 3,000 tweets during the month of November, the vast majority of which praised the candidate , tip The World.

On election day, the two men spent the evening together. The former president then had direct access to the man who runs X, a strategic platform for the dissemination of information, noted the New York Times.

Before that, Elon Musk had already widely shown his support for Donald Trump, in particular by unblocking his account – Trump had been banned from Twitter after the insurrection of January 6, 2021 – and by organizing the “Twitter Files”, a pseudo-scandal around emails from Hunter Biden supposedly revealed hidden links between Twitter (pre-Musk takeover) and the Democratic party.

“Illegal” boycott of X (ex-Twitter): Elon Musk attacks large groups

Big departure on January 20

This new exodus of X is also intended to be better organized than the previous ones. Some editorial staff – without making their departure official – circulate information internally to leave X as “cleanly” as possible.

It is particularly advisable not to close your account, to prevent it from being taken over by bots, but to simply stop adding funds to it. On Bluesky, which has become one of the main refuges of this exodus, the functionality « starter-pack »widely used in recent days, allows new users to quickly get their bearings. This allows you to create lists of accounts to add at once. There are starter kits on many topics, from the very specific “grumpy AI researchers” to the very broad “French journalists”.

The mathematician and research director at CNRS David Chavalarias, for his part, proposes a group departure from the platform set for January 20, the date of Donald Trump's inauguration. He explains that this date is symbolic, but also allows you to take the time to organize your departure. He recommends in particular asking X for his data in order to save them, warning his subscribers, encouraging them to migrate, and massively sharing the hashtag #20january.

Little political support

Is the opportunity finally the right one to rock X? Doubts remain. Firstly because the exodus is not followed by the majority of political figures. Including among elected officials most experienced in digital issues. The Macronist MP Eric Botherel for example, who says he registered on Bluesky as soon as X was bought by Elon Musk, does not intend to abandon X. “Even if Bluesky's figures are encouraging, the resonance is not of the same nature between a service which has a few tens of millions of users worldwide and a service with several hundred million”he explains to The Tribune.

On LCI, Marine Tondelier, national secretary of Ecologists, finds it difficult to leave tall the political-media system is organized around him ». The proof, according to her: If [les politiques] react to something, [les médias] repeat the tweets. [Mais s’ils] send press releases, it doesn't work. Today I have no choice but to be on X to do my job »she laments. And all the more so since many media do not dare, or do not wish, to take the plunge, reports Le Figaro.

“Leaving X en masse is a nice and romantic idea, but it’s hard to know if it will work”observes Gilles Babinet, entrepreneur and co-president of the National Digital Council (Cnnum). “Other movements in the past have tried and it didn’t work. To hope for real change, we must instead focus on regulation and a collegial body dedicated to the supervision of digital platforms. he recommends to The Tribune.

Regulation, the only credible response?

The organization he chairs, the Cnuum, nevertheless affirmed that it would no longer post on X, accompanying its decision with a column entitled “Musk is not our project. Here's another one. »

Rather than encouraging people to go to this or that platform, the organization is calling for a total overhaul of our social media. “The American election once again confirms what we have always carried as a message and which has not been completely integrated into the general discourse: we cannot entrust our democratic space to big tech”we can read on their site. The Cnnum therefore calls for strengthening the interoperability of social networks, promoting European alternatives based on open protocols, and breaking with the attention economy.

The historian David Colon, a specialist in propaganda and disinformation, made a fairly similar observation in The World. “Faced with the danger that the new post-journalistic information regime of the techno-oligarchs poses to our democracies, the calls to leave X seem very paltry”he said. The historian therefore believes that it is urgent to provide Europe with its own social media, which are honest and responsible.

Elections: disinformation boosted by generative AI is not very effective, but for how long?

The government passes the buck to the European Commission

Asked about the role that the government should have regarding X, the Secretary of State for Digital, Clara Chappaz, returns the ball to the European Commission, in which she “ has full confidence ».

“In reaction to the return of Trump, the EU could toughen up regulation of tech” (Sonia Cissé, lawyer)

X is actually the subject of a notice of infringement Digital Services Act in areas related to rigged interfaces, advertising transparency and access to data. “Sanctions must be taken in the event of repeated breaches. I am also very attentive to criticisms relating to the inadequacies of X's moderation system and the shortcomings of its CGU (general conditions of use)”explains Clara Chappaz, indicating that she will personally alert the new commissioner Henna Virkkunen on this subject.

On the other hand, the minister does not plan to leave the platform and does not mention an upcoming installation on Bluesky. “The government is instructed to promote a presence on social networks which the French widely practice. This is the case with the X platform.”