Paris: News organizations have started leaving X, formerly Twitter, which was once a favorite of the world’s media but is now being accused of facilitating the spread of misinformation under its owner, Elon Musk, an ally of Donald Trump and the president-elect.
Sweden’s reference newspaper, the left-liberal Dagens Nyheter (DN), became the third major media organization to cease posting articles on the social media platform on Friday, citing a “harsh and extreme” climate.
Editor-in-chief Peter Wolodarski said, “Since Elon Musk took over, the platform has increasingly merged with his and Donald Trump’s political ambitions.”
The Guardian, a center-left British daily, declared on Wednesday that it would stop posting anything “toxic” from its official accounts on app.
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The same thing was said by Spain’s Vanguardia a day later, which declared that it would prefer to lose customers than stay on a “disinformation network.”
Many users had already questioned whether they should stay on Twitter in 2022 when Musk, a businessman well known for founding SpaceX and Tesla, acquired the network and significantly lowered content control in the name of free expression.
With Musk’s active support, the subject has resurfaced since Trump won this month’s presidential election
Stephen Barnard, a specialist on media manipulation at Butler University in the US, said, “I would expect more publishers to part ways with X. How many do so will likely depend on what actions, Musk, and the Trump administration take with regard to media and journalism.”
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Musk is the richest man in the world, and Trump’s team has appointed him to head a new Department of Government Efficiency.
According to The Guardian, “the benefits of being on this social app are now outweighed by the negatives” despite having around 11 million followers on the network.
