The Guardian stops publishing on X, says Elon Musk made it toxic

The Guardian will no longer publish content on its official accounts on X, the popular social media platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk

The British newspaper cited the growing concern over the platform’s harmful content and its diminishing value for promoting quality journalism as the rationale for its decisions.

According to the publication, X, formerly Twitter, has increasingly become a “toxic media platform” where far-right conspiracy theories and racism are promoted or tolerated.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, The Guardian said the benefits of maintaining a presence on X are now outweighed by the negatives.

“We wanted to let readers know that we will no longer post on any official Guardian editorial accounts on the social media site X (formerly Twitter).

“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 organisation wrote.

The Guardian said the US presidential election campaign further solidified its stance as Mr Musk used X’s influence to shape political discourse.

“The US presidential election campaign has only reinforced what we have considered for some time: X is a toxic media platform,” the publication said, highlighting Mr Musk’s influence in shaping political discourse.

Elon Musk was a staunch supporter of Donald Trump during the campaign and significantly contributed to his electoral victory

Aside from donating millions of dollars to support Mr Trump’s presidential campaign and making public appearances with him, Mr Musk effectively turned his X social media platform into a hub for content and discourse aligned with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

Mr Musk also had a two-hour live programme on X with Mr Trump, which garnered high global internet traffic of 73 million views.

After the live programme, Mr Musk wrote, “Almost all of the legacy media will trash the Trump conversation, thus driving total listeners probably past 200 million.”

Mr Musk has been accused of using X to censor democratic voices and amplifying those of far-right extremists while claiming to be a “free speech absolutist”.

The Guardian said Mr Musk’s action negatively affects the effort to promote credible journalism.

According to the publication, resources spent on maintaining its presence on X could be better allocated to promoting its journalism through other channels.

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“Social media can be an important tool for news organisations to reach new audiences, but X now plays a diminished role in promoting our work,” the statement read.

However, the publication said users can still share the outlet’s articles on the platform and its reporters can continue to use their personal X handles.

The Guardian also said it will continue embedding X content in its articles when necessary for live news reporting and that its reporters may still use X for news-gathering purposes.

Mr Musk responded to the Guardian on X, saying the prominent British newspaper is “irrelevant” and is a “laboriously vile propaganda machine.”