Holly Bishop
Guest Reporter
The Guardian has announced that it will no longer be posting on X, branding Elon Musk’s social media platform as “far-right and toxic”.
The publication claimed that “far-right conspiracy theories and racism” are promoted on the site and cited that as the reason why they no longer wish to publish content on there.
Readers of The Guardian will still be able to share articles on the site, and news reporters can continue to use Musk’s platform to gather information for stories.
Announcing the change, the newspaper 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.
“This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.
“The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.”
It added: “Social media can be an important tool for news organisations and help us to reach new audiences but, at this point, X now plays a diminished role in promoting our work.”
Musk purchased Twitter in 2022, rebranding it into X. Since then, he had consistently emphasised free speech on the platform and unblocked accounts previously banned from the site.
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Following Musk’s endorsement of Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential Election, the social media platform has come under even more scrutiny, with critics accusing him of positioning the site behind Trump.
In the days after Trump’s victory, Musk posted on the site over 400 times between Tuesday and Friday to celebrate the win.
Thousands of social media users have since left X, joining rival app Bluesky instead. The platform, which was launched originally by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey as a research project, has added over 1 million users over the past week.
Musk has “turned X into the church of the conservative movement,” said Steven Livingston, the founding director of the Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics at George Washington University. “It’s gone from that public sphere to a bullhorn.”
The SpaceX founder has now also been given a role in Trump’s upcoming presidency - leading a newly created Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).
Alongside politician Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk will head up the new office which is designed to “dismantle” government bureaucracy and “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful spending, and restructure Federal Agencies”.
Earlier this year, X was banned in Brazil after the social media platform failed to pay a fine for spreading misinformation about the 2022 Brazilian election.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes and Musk were at logger-heads after Brazil’s highest court demanded that certain X accounts, mostly believed to be associated with far-right users, be shut down in the nation.
In September, the platform began to comply with the nation’s laws and it was reinstated.
The Guardian has been approached for comment.
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The publication claimed that “far-right conspiracy theories and racism” are promoted on the site and cited that as the reason why they no longer wish to publish content on there.
Readers of The Guardian will still be able to share articles on the site, and news reporters can continue to use Musk’s platform to gather information for stories.
Announcing the change, the newspaper 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.
“This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.
“The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.”
It added: “Social media can be an important tool for news organisations and help us to reach new audiences but, at this point, X now plays a diminished role in promoting our work.”
Musk purchased Twitter in 2022, rebranding it into X. Since then, he had consistently emphasised free speech on the platform and unblocked accounts previously banned from the site.
MORE LIKE THIS:
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Following Musk’s endorsement of Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential Election, the social media platform has come under even more scrutiny, with critics accusing him of positioning the site behind Trump.
In the days after Trump’s victory, Musk posted on the site over 400 times between Tuesday and Friday to celebrate the win.
Thousands of social media users have since left X, joining rival app Bluesky instead. The platform, which was launched originally by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey as a research project, has added over 1 million users over the past week.
Musk has “turned X into the church of the conservative movement,” said Steven Livingston, the founding director of the Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics at George Washington University. “It’s gone from that public sphere to a bullhorn.”
The SpaceX founder has now also been given a role in Trump’s upcoming presidency - leading a newly created Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).
Alongside politician Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk will head up the new office which is designed to “dismantle” government bureaucracy and “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful spending, and restructure Federal Agencies”.
Earlier this year, X was banned in Brazil after the social media platform failed to pay a fine for spreading misinformation about the 2022 Brazilian election.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes and Musk were at logger-heads after Brazil’s highest court demanded that certain X accounts, mostly believed to be associated with far-right users, be shut down in the nation.
In September, the platform began to comply with the nation’s laws and it was reinstated.
The Guardian has been approached for comment.
Find Out More...