‘X is a toxic media platform’: The Guardian says it will no longer post on X

The Guardian today said it will no longer post content on its accounts on X, formerly Twitter. In a statement on its website, the UK-based media organisation said 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,” the statement said. 

Given that X now “plays a diminished role in promoting our work”, The Guardian said it would prefer that people support its work on its website.

The statement added that users on X would still be able to share stories from The Guardian, that posts from X might be embedded in Guardian stories, and that its reporters would use the site for “news-gathering purposes”.

Elon Musk has been widely criticised for the changes made to erstwhile Twitter after he acquired the social media platform in 2022. Meanwhile, the businessman and investor, who supported Donald Trump in the US presidential election, was today named head of a new department alongside Vivek Ramaswamy. 

In a statement, President-elect Trump said “the Great Elon Musk” and Ramaswamy would lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE”, and that “these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies – essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement”.

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