Many celebrities and some news outlets are leaving X, formally known as Twitter, accusing the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, of altering the site to favor right-wing voices and promote Donald Trump in the recent election.
The first to leave the site were advertisers, who said there were too many reputation risks when buying ads. Companies were worried that their ads could be placed near extremist content that had been allowed to run wild on the site since it was taken over by Musk, who has dismissed around 80 percent of the platform’s workforce. Some of the largest brands that have stopped paying for ads on X include Disney, Apple, and Warner Brothers. In response to the exodus, Musk said that he would not be blackmailed or bought by these corporations and that the site would continue to move forward with the revenue hold generated by them leaving the site.
Since the election, and the closeness of Musk and the President-elect has become more clear, some celebrities and public figures have announced that they will be leaving the site permanently. The Guardian, the British newspaper, released an article explaining their decision to no longer post on X. NPR made a similar move in spring 2023 after X temporarily listed the outlet as “state-funded,” which, while true, ruffled feathers because of the editorial control the reporters and editors have over the articles and content they publish.
One option is Threads
As far as public figures go, horror author Stephen King, who has gained a significant following on X, announced he would leave late this week and take his business to Meta’s Threads.
Threads is one option for those looking to leave X, though many may have similar crititcs of Meta’s products including Facebook in relation to the impact the social media giant has had on politics.
The public figures heading to Bluesky
Performer Barbra Streisand announced she would particapte in the latest #Twitter exodus, and that those hoping to follow her can find her on Bluesky, a social media site with a very similar to feel to X. The userbase has reached around 15 million according to the platform, and while growing remains a small fraction on the users X, and formally Twitter, attracked over the years.
Other figures, like Spanish director Guillermo del Torro, most famous for his Oscar winning film, ‘The Shape of Water,’ said that he would scale back his use of the app.
Bluesky has seen an explosion in users signing up, which could intice a greater number of people to abandon the site in favor of the new alternative.
