British newspaper The Guardian announced Wednesday that will stop publishing news on its official accounts on X considering that it is a “toxic” platform and that the detriments of being on it now “outweigh” the benefits. The newspaper explained to its readers that it believes that “resources could be better spent promoting” its journalism “elsewhere”.
The newspaper states that this is something they have been assessing for some time, taking into account “the disturbing content that is often promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.” The Guardian adds that the recent election campaign in United States prior to the election won by Republican Donald Trump, served only to consider what they have been thinking “for some time: that X is a toxic platform and that its owner has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.”
The newspaper clarifies that users of X will be able to continue sharing the articles of The Guardian on that network. It also stresses that the nature of live news reporting implies that occasionally they will still continue to insert content from X in their article pages.
In addition, reporters at that newspaper will also be able to continue to use X for news purposes, as they do with other social networks which the newspaper does not normally interact with, he explained. “Social media can be an important tool for news organizations and help reach new audiences, but, at the moment, X plays an undermining role.”the newspaper noted.
It also recalls that the work of its journalists is “available and open to all” on its website. (theguardian.com) and notes that they prefer readers to go there directly. Their business model “does not rely on viral content tailored to the whims of giant social media algorithms,” but are funded directly by readers.