news
14 Nov 2024
The Guardian will no longer post its content under its official account on X, the British newspaper announced on Wednesday.
The Guardian stated the move had been under consideration for a while, "given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism." The media outlet added that the U.S. presidential election campaign underscored its view that the social media platform is "toxic" and that its owner, Elon Musk, used it to shape political discourse.
The London-based paper's announcement comes as President-elect Donald Trump named Musk as co-head of what he called his "Department of Government Efficiency." Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX, was heavily involved in Trump's campaign.
X had been Twitter before its board agreed to be acquired by Musk in 2022 in a deal that valued the platform at $44 billion.
X users will still be able to share Guardian articles on the platform, and the newspaper's journalists will at times use it for news-gathering purposes, just as they use other social networks.
"We can do this because our business model does not rely on viral content tailored to the whims of the social media giants' algorithms — instead we're funded directly by our readers."
The Guardian's X account bio now describes itself as an archived page and points readers to its website and app.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move by the Guardian comes in the wake of an exodus by advertisers on X, with companies including Apple, Coca-Cola and Disney removing paid ads from X last year. The company's difficulties persisted into 2024, with the World Bank halting all paid ads on the platform in early September after a CBS News investigation found its advertisements showing up under a racist post from an account that prolifically posts pro-Nazi and white nationalist content.
More recently, a survey of marketers by Kantar found a quarter of advertisers plan to reduce spending on X in 2025.