UK publication 'Guardian' quits Elon Musk-owned X

November 13, 2024 21:52

Elon Musk. Pic: Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters

British news publisher The Guardian on Wednesday said that it is quitting the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, citing billionaire owner Elon Musk's influence during the US presidential election process.

In a statement on Wednesday the publication said it will no longer post from any official Guardian accounts on the site.

Further, it said that the recent US election underlined its view that X is a "toxic" platform and that Musk uses it to influence politics.

Musk who campaigned actively for US president-elect Donald Trump has been named as one of two heads of a new "department of government efficiency."

In its message to its readers, The Guardian said, "We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere."

The publication said that its journalists will continue to use X as a news-gathering source. X, it said, "now plays a "diminished role in promoting our work."

"We will stop posting from our official editorial accounts on the platform, but X users can still share our articles, it said.

"The nature of live news reporting means we will still occasionally embed content from X within our article pages" it said adding that X users will still be able to share its articles.

The Guardian has more than 80 accounts on X with approximately 27 million followers.

It said content on the platform about which it had longstanding concerns included "far-right conspiracy theories" and "racism". It added that the site's coverage of the US presidential election had crystallised its decision.

Last year, US media organisation National Public Radio [NPR], stopped posting on X after the social media platform labelled it as "state-affiliated media".

PBS, a US public TV broadcaster, also suspended its posts for the same reason.

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