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The Guardian quits ‘toxic’ X over Elon Musk using it to influence politics

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U.K. newspaper The Guardian is leaving social media platform X, citing billionaire owner Elon Musk’s influence during the U.S. election process.

The left-leaning daily said in a statement Wednesday that it will no longer post from any official Guardian accounts on the site formerly known as Twitter.

“We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere,” it said.

The paper said it has been considering dropping X for some time because of the “often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.” 

It also singled out Musk, saying that the recent U.S. election underlined its view that X is a “toxic” platform and that Musk uses it to influence politics. 

Musk was one of the most high-profile campaigners for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, and was on Tuesday named as one of two heads of a new “department of government efficiency.”

Outgoing EU justice commissioner Věra Jourová called Musk a “promoter of evil” in an interview with POLITICO last month. Musk later retorted that Jourová is “the epitome of banal, bureaucratic evil.” 

The Guardian’s statement on Wednesday said that its journalists will continue to use X as a news-gathering source. But X, it said, now plays a “diminished role in promoting our work.” 

All Guardian-related accounts on X now say they have been archived.

X did not immediately reply to POLITICO’s request for comment.

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