‘Toxic’: Leading UK media house decides to stop posting on Elon Musk-led X

The Guardian, one of the United Kingdom’s leading news outlets, on Wednesday announced that it was quitting Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, branding it a “toxic media platform” home to “often disturbing content”.
“We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives,” The Guardian said, adding that its “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 statement noted.
Notably, the paper’s main X handle — @guardian — was still accessible Wednesday but a message on it advised “this account has been archived” while redirecting visitors to its website.
The Guardian is a majorly left-leaning newspaper with nearly 11 million followers on X.
In its official statement, the newspaper said that the “toxic content” that was allowed to be fostered in the platform during the US presidential election campaign only strengthened its resolve to quit X.
“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,” the statement assessed by AFP said.
The Guardian further informed that its readers on X would still be able to share its articles and that it would still “occasionally embed content from X” within its articles given “the nature of live news reporting”.
It also said its reporters would still be able to use the site and other social networks on which the paper does not have an account.
“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,” The Guardian added.
Tech Billionaire Elon Musk purchased X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022 and has consistently courted controversy with his use of the platform, particularly during the recent US presidential election.
Musk endorsed Donald Trump and used his account boasting nearly 205 million followers to sway voters in favour of the Republican.