The vice-president of the National Assembly, Roland Lescure, leaves X, with a few other political figures

The former minister and current vice-president of the National Assembly, Roland Lescure, announced on Saturday January 18 that he was leaving the X network (formerly Twitter), like a few other political figures, a move far from being many emulators, including within the government.

The historic Macronist makes it known in The Parisian that he is going ” close [son] account on this social network »and throws “a transpartisan call” to do the same, invoking a “collective responsibility”.

According to him, several elected officials have already joined this initiative, such as the regional presidents Loïg Chesnais-Girard (various left, Brittany) or Franck Leroy (various right, Grand-Est), the ecologist Jérémie Iordanoff, the Macronist deputies Florent Boudié ( chairman of the law committee) and Ludovic Mendes.

He justifies his choice by explaining that “a network of divisions, of clashes, which sometimes propagated hatred”has now become “a propaganda tool” for the American billionaire Elon Musk, who “in control of the algorithm” et “behaves as editor-in-chief of the platform”.

“Network X must become a has-been. When an evening gets out of hand, you have to leave it to go somewhere more peaceful”justifies Mr. Lescure.

Owned by Elon Musk, X is suspected of spreading false information and manipulating public debate in Europe. Several institutions or media have announced in recent weeks their departure from the social network, or the cessation of their activity on their accounts.

For politicians, this network “often replaces press releases”

Among political figures, few have taken the plunge. Some on the left are wondering or have announced, like the environmentalists Sandrine Rousseau, Yannick Jadot, Cyrielle Chatelain or Pouria Amirshahi, to leave the network in the coming days.

But, for the government of François Bayrou, a departure from “is not at all current”according to its spokesperson, Sophie Primas. “It is not up to us to leave these platforms, [comme X, Instagram, Facebook ou Tiktok]but rather for them to comply with the European rules in force”she justifies. Benjamin Haddad, Minister Delegate for Europe, also confirmed this Saturday that he would remain on the platform.

Roland Lescure admet que “leaving X has a cost”and that, for politicians, this network “often replaces press releases”but he says he is convinced that“there will be other departures” and specifies that he will “find other channels to inform and [s’]informer ».

A French collective facilitates the exodus of X users

Institutions, ministries, cities, media, public figures… In recent weeks, announcements of departures from the American social network have multiplied around the world.

In France, this is notably the case of the Paris town hall, the Pasteur Institute, and more than 80 associations, including the Human Rights League and Emmaüs, which denounced “the absence of moderation and the configuration of algorithms” Who “promote the proliferation of hateful content” on X.

It is to support them that HelloQuitteX was set up, a science-citizen project now made up of more than 30 people from different associations and organizations, almost all volunteers, including a small team of developers coordinated by the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).

“I just did my #eXit”

Like the astrophysicist Eric Lagadec or the environmental association Générations Futures, HelloQuitteX users display the automatic message on their account “I just did my #eXit”.

“Many users are captive to their audience on X”explains to Agence France-Presse David Chavalarias, mathematician at the CNRS at the origin of the concept. “Some cannot decide to leave, for fear of losing their sources or their audience. » More than 5,000 people and organizations registered in one week, according to Mr. Chavalarias.