Leaving X is “not relevant” for the government, announces its spokesperson

Even if “each minister is free to do what he wants”, “we cannot deprive ourselves of such a communication tool, reaching a very large audience, declared Sophie Primas to “Ouest-France”.

Leave the social network X, formerly Twitter, “is not at all current” for the government, said spokesperson Sophie Primas in a daily interview West France Friday January 17, when several personalities, institutions and media announced that they were leaving Elon Musk's platform. “For the moment, a departure from social networks – whether it is X, Instagram, Facebook or TikTok – is not at all in the news”declared the minister. “It is not up to us to leave these platforms, but rather up to them to comply with the European rules in force.”

Even if “each minister is free to do what he wants”, “we cannot do without such a communication tool, reaching a very large audience, to transmit government information, relay public speech”continued the spokesperson.

Owned by American billionaire Elon Musk, X is suspected of spreading false information and manipulating public debate in Europe. The boss of SpaceX and Tesla has notably promoted far-right parties, such as the AfD in Germany. Few political figures have nevertheless taken the plunge. Some on the left are wondering or have announced, like the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau, that they will leave the network in the coming days.

The European Commission announced new technical measures on Friday to strengthen its investigation into the platform, to “shedding light on the compliance of X’s recommendation systems” with the European Union's Digital Services Regulation (DSA).