The British newspaper The Guardian announced Wednesday that it will no longer publish on the social network X, highlighting “the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform”, owned by Elon Musk.
• Also read: Use of their content without paying: Le Figaro, The World et The Parisian take the X platform to court
• Also read: Trump to appoint Elon Musk as head of “Government Effectiveness” ministry
The Guardian said it wanted readers to go directly to its website rather than through social media.
“We believe that the benefits of our presence on X are now outweighed by the drawbacks and that resources could be better used to promote our journalism elsewhere,” the newspaper said in a statement.
The Guardian has over 80 accounts on X with around 27 million subscribers.
The Guardian said content on the platform that had long concerned him included far-right conspiracy theories and racism. He adds that the site’s media coverage of the American presidential election crystallized his decision.
“This is something we have considered for some time given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism,” the newspaper said.
He adds that “the US presidential election campaign only served to highlight what we have long believed: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use his influence to shape political discourse.”
Anti-hate speech campaign groups and the EU have criticized Musk, the world’s richest person, over the platform’s content standards since he bought it for US$44 billion in 2022.
A self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” the Tesla CEO has reactivated banned accounts, including those of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, misogynist influencer Andrew Tate and British far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
The Guardian said that X users would still be able to share its articles on the platform and that posts about X would occasionally be integrated into its work as part of its live news reporting.
Journalists will also be able to continue to use the platform for information gathering purposes, said the Guardian.
