It seems that users vote with mice and clicks. In the weeks since the U.S. election, new microblogging sites have been climbing the download charts application and acquire millions of new users. It's unclear whether users are permanently leaving X (formerly Twitter), or rather temporarily set up new accounts elsewhere.
“A lot of people are canceling their accounts.” Elon Musk has a big problem
However, both companies and individuals point to commitment as the reason for their departure owner Elon Musk's X platform into Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the polarizing nature of the website. Bluesky, originally a Twitter project that was spun off as a separate company, has added more than a million new users in the last week. Currently, there are a total of 15 million of them.
Although Bluesky is a relatively unknown platform, it topped the company's App Store rankings this week Appleahead of Threads. This isn't the first time X has seen a decline in active users. The declines occurred especially after Musk took over Twitter in October 2022 and when Brazil banned the platform this year.
However, it appears that Musk's support for Trump turned out to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for some account holders. – To some extent, this is a breakthrough moment – says DW prof. Bart Cammaerts, communication and democracy researcher at the London School of Economics. Cammaerts points to the abandonment of moderation and the intensification of Musk's own rhetoric around the future direction of X as factors that have been alienating users from him for a long time. – I think that the fact that we now see so many people canceling their accounts is the culmination of a process that has been going on for a long time – says the expert.
Who is leaving X? Celebrities and large companies say “enough”
On Wednesday, the management of the British daily The Guardian said that it would no longer publish on X, although it would not delete its accounts. This is not the only such case. US public stations NPR and PBS stopped publishing on the platform last year. Australian public broadcaster ABC has also limited its channels on X to just four.
Celebrity departures are more significant. American actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Bette Midler have deleted their X accounts, maintaining a presence elsewhere. They join other stars such as Elton John, Jim Carrey, Whoopi Goldberg and Gigi Hadid who left or stopped posting on Twitter after Musk took it over in 2022. Other public figures have expressed their intention to leave X but have not yet deleted their profiles. These include, among others: former CNN anchor Don Lemon and Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Most of the celebrities leaving X are associated with the left, but institutions are also leaving – including those from outside the Anglosphere. These include, for example, the Berlin Film Festival and the Bundesliga football team FC St. Paula. Earlier in 2024, more than 50 other NGOs announced their departure via the byebyeelon.de campaign website.
Last year, major brands paused advertising on the platform, citing an increase in hateful content, which drew a public rebuke from Musk.
Why are they leaving? “Conspiracy theories and racism”
Among the reasons cited for leaving the platform is the continued increase in hateful content on the platform. This includes an increase in toxic content, which The Guardian described in a statement as “often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.”
However, it is difficult to point to one reason for leaving. The newspaper noted that the decision was a long process and that its editorial resources could be better used elsewhere. For individuals, many people find that other microblogging sites remind them more of the Twitter of old, with fewer bots and more one-on-one interactions.
– If these features are offered by alternative platforms and many people make the switch, a snowball effect could occur quite quickly. We have also seen this in the past with other platforms, such as Myspace, says Bart Cammaerts.
“They choose the lesser evil.” Outflow to other platforms
Although celebrities, politicians and brands may migrate to other social media, fledgling platforms are susceptible to the same negative interactions and toxic content that dominate popular social media. – In a sense, people choose the lesser of two evils, because all these platforms have a business model that is essentially focused on extraction, on commoditizing your community in a way that violates your privacy – explains Prof. Cammaerts.
“So, of course, X is the worst and is problematic for many political reasons, but that doesn't mean that these other platforms are completely 'good,'” he adds. Dr. Silvia Majo-Vazquez from the Free University of Amsterdam predicts an increase in the number of closed groups in private messaging applications (so-called messengers). – When it comes to social media platforms, the environment is becoming more and more fragmented – explains the expert. – The attention that these major platforms received was divided among many other places. It is not known who will emerge from this process as the winner, he adds.