Leave X (ex-Twitter)? More than forty universities and schools have taken the plunge, according to our count

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« The algorithms of […] discredit scientists,” wrote paleoclimatologist Valérie Masson-Delmotte recently to justify her departure from the social network, like the significant wave of account suspensions in higher education.

Unlike the German and Austrian universities, the French took turns. Paris-Saclay University, Sciences-Po Toulouse, Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne University… Decisions to leave the social network academic, particularly sensitive to scientific rigor and growing misinformation on the platform. “Le Nouvel Obs” counted more than forty training courses in this case, throughout France.

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“Attached to the integrity of the scientific approach, the School considers that the conditions for reliable and ethical information are no longer met on the X network”justified Polytechnique for example in announcing his departure on January 10. The platform “has freed itself from European good practices in the fight against online disinformation, has thus become incompatible with the values ​​of the School”continued the military school in a press release.

This significant wave of departures in the academic world seems linked to their attachment to scientific rigor and to the growing misinformation on the platform. The Jean Moulin-Lyon 3 University had already decreed this in a press release in November 2023: it said it did not wish “ contribute, through its participation in “X”, to a logic contrary to the values ​​of the university community and the principles which underpin its mission with the students whose training it provides ».

“Algorithms discredit scientists”

Among these are the most prestigious higher education courses in France. These include, for example, the Ecole Polytechnique, the Ecole du Louvre, the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) and four Institutes of Political Studies (IEP). But also the most important universities throughout the country: Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon, Aix-Marseille, Nantes, Strasbourg, La Rochelle…

« X's algorithms […] promote hateful content and misinformation, particularly on climate-related issues, and discredit scientists », Explained paleoclimatologist Valérie Masson-Delmotte, former co-chair of the IPCC working group on the physical bases of climate. She announced her departure from the social network on January 9, on X.

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The inauguration date of Donald Trump, this Monday, January 20, as president of the United States, has accelerated departures in the academic world. This is because he is taking with him to the White House the boss of the social network The billionaire is accused of serving his “ partisan interests » and its “ obsessions » through its platform, as summarized by Valérie Masson-Delmotte. A spirit far removed from university rigor.