Even The Guardian abandons X: 'Promotes racist ideas and far-right conspiracy theories'

War on disinformation: the British newspaper The Guardian has decided to abandon X, the social media platform controlled by entrepreneur Elon Musk. The advantages of being on X, formerly known as Twitter, are far outweighed "by the negatives", explained the newspaper, whose online version also has a large following in the United States.
The decision to no longer post on X, where the Guardian has over 80 accounts with 27 million followers, was taken because of the site's "increasingly worrying content", which now "promotes racist ideas and far-right conspiracy theories".
The newspaper explained in an article that it had been contemplating withdrawing from X for some time and that the way the US elections were followed was the straw that broke the camel's back. According to the Guardian, it is clear that Musk is using X for his own political ends and that by presenting himself as a defender of freedom of expression he is actually promoting and spreading dangerous falsehoods.
Musk's posts and X content in general are no longer filtered and verified, as used to be the case on Twitter, so that even the most extreme theories or stories made up out of thin air can reach millions of followers, who take them as true.
During the US election campaign, Musk 'bombarded' his millions of followers on X with content that was not only pro-Trump but blatantly false, for example by continuing to support the story - denied by the authorities and never proven - that illegal immigrants were stealing the pets of US citizens to eat them.
The entrepreneur also reinstated the accounts of people who had been disbarred from X for their racist or misogynistic posts, such as Alex Jones, Andrew Tate and Tommy Robinson. The latter, convicted as the leader of a far-right organisation in Britain, used X to encourage last summer's violent street riots in England, urging his supporters to storm immigrant reception centres.
Musk reacted to the Guardian's announcement by declaring that the newspaper, which is left-leaning on both political and social issues, is a 'vile propaganda machine' that is completely 'irrelevant'.
The Guardian's journalists remain free to post on X, but the paper encourages readers to use its official website instead of social media.
The Guardian is not alone in criticising X: the European Union as well as non-governmental organisations have also expressed concern about the content disseminated on the platform. Last year, both Pbs, an American TV station, and National Public Radio, an independent, non-profit American radio station, withdrew from X after being criticised by the platform.
The Berlin Film Festival recently announced its decision to abandon X, while the North Wales Police Force stopped using the platform, explaining that it is 'no longer in line with our values.'
Meanwhile, Musk is preparing to play an increasingly important role in politics. After his open support, also financial, for Donald Trump's campaign, the future president has given him the task of leading a new ministry of government efficiency. Musk stated that he intends to fire many officials and drastically cut government spending, in line with what he had done to Twitter.
After buying the social media platform in 2022 for $44 billion and renaming it X, the South African entrepreneur had laid off six thousand employees, or 80% of the workforce.