The Guardian will no longer post on ‘toxic news forums’ X | Technology News

British news outlet suspends X citing ‘disturbing content’ on the platform, including racism and conspiracy theories.

British news outlet The Guardian announced it would no longer post content on X due to “disturbing content” on the “toxic news platform”, including racism and conspiracy theories.

The Guardian wrote on its website on Wednesday that it was considering a decision to stop posting on social media for a while, but the US election in early November “reinforced” its decision.

“The US presidential election campaign has only served to emphasize what we have been considering 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 create political rhetoric,” wrote the Guardian. .

“We think that the advantages of being in X now outweigh the disadvantages and that the resources can be better used to improve our journalism elsewhere.”

The news agency said users on X will still be able to share their articles on X and will “continue to embed content from X” within its articles, given the “live nature of news reporting”.

It added that Guardian journalists will still be able to use the site and other social media sites without an account.

The paper’s main X handle, @guardian, was still available on Wednesday, but a message on it advised, “this account has been archived” while redirecting visitors to its website.

The news outlet, which has 10.7 million followers on X, has become the first UK media company to exit the platform following the purchase of tech mogul Elon Musk in 2022 for $ 44bn.

Critics say Musk’s approach to the stage has allowed lies and hate speech to spread.

In response to the Guardian’s decision, Musk told X, “They don’t matter.”

In another response to news about the move to stop posting, Musk said the Guardian was a “hard-working propaganda machine”.

During the US presidential election, Musk endorsed Donald Trump and used his personal account with nearly 205 million followers to push support in favor of the Republicans with several misleading posts.

In the UK, the role of X and other social networks began to break out earlier this year after the outbreak of racist protests after the attacks in the English city of Southport, where three girls were killed. by a Muslim immigrant.

In recent months, some British charities and health and education agencies have said they will no longer send to X.