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Call for a boycott: several journalists leave X to fight against fake news

undefined undefined 23 novembre 2024 undefined 18h00

The Editor

© Shutterstock - Joao Serafim

After the decision of the future American president Donald Trump to assign Elon Musk a ministry to make federal institutions "more efficient", a series of independent media and journalists have decided to leave the ex-Twitter, owned by the billionaire. The reason? The rampant fake news with no possibility of regulation. 

It was one of her most active communication channels, and yet, since Tuesday, November 19, it's been impossible to find Salomé Saqué's account on X. Gone. Deleted. Her 210,000 followers will have to follow her on another platform: the economic journalist from Blast has chosen to leave Twitter's blue bird, just like many of her colleagues and even entire media outlets.

Since Elon Musk was appointed to a high-responsibility ministry under the upcoming Trump administration, the departures to more regulated social networks have been multiplying. Information professionals are denouncing the misinformation that has been reigning supreme since the billionaire's takeover in 2022 for 44 billion dollars.


A Network Favorable to the Far Right 

« I did it, I deleted my X (Twitter) account », announced Salomé Saqué to her community on Instagram and Thread this Tuesday. This decision wasn't made lightly, as she regularly posted on this platform, but giving up her 210,000 followers is finally a way to express her disagreement with « a network structured by and for the far right, which enriches Elon Musk ». The journalist urged her colleagues to join the movement against the hatred and misinformation that flow freely there, and worse, are encouraged by the algorithms. 

Voir dans Threads

The independent journalist Constance Vilanova, who specializes in pop culture and reality TV, topics fueled by the presence of personalities on X, has also jumped ship. «It is no longer possible for me to continue posting on this increasingly toxic social network owned by a fascist», she explained on Instagram. More broadly, entire media outlets have immediately suspended their publications, such as Ouest-France, the leading regional newspaper in France, followed by Sud-Ouest, as well as the British newspaper The Guardian and the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia. 


An Unhelpful Trend ?

This wave of departures aims to protest against the layoffs of many moderators, the new certification system, and the increase in conspiratorial, violent, sexual, and hateful content on X. However, some media outlets disapprove. “It’s not a good idea to close your accounts on X,” pointed out El País: the Spanish newspaper highlights that abandoning the platform won’t stop false information from spreading through a social network that is still widely used by 326 million monthly users. “To mitigate toxicity and misinformation on networks, it’s better to denounce hateful messages and share truthful information ,”

He acknowledges it. The same observation applies to the Greek newspaper Politis, which states that this dynamic represents a « great defeat for the media » by « putting the public in front of a dilemma : it's 'them' or ‘us’ ».  


BlueSky, an alternative to X that's charming  

As journalists are flocking to their favorite social networks—Instagram being at the top—a new platform has been making quite a buzz since the American election: BlueSky. It carries the blue of Twitter, along with a similar interface and concept: “To offer an open and decentralized social network,” promises its founder Jack Dorsey, where users can share texts, discussions, ideas… Much like Threads, which quickly became regarded as an alternative to X by journalists at its launch in 2023. 

While the latest entrant from Meta is ahead with 275 million monthly active members, BlueSky can boast an impressive surge in users following Donald Trump’s victory, rapidly surpassing 20 million. According to a study by Similarweb, the number of daily active users of Bluesky in the United States even surpasses that of Threads. Over the coming months, and depending on the political landscape, new practices could reshuffle the cards of online information.