Why International Media Outfits Including The Guardian, PBS & NPR Are Boycotting X?

British legacy media The Guardian recently declared its decision not to post any content on Elon Musk’s social media platform X from its account. On 13^th November the 200-year-old media giant announced to its readers that it has seen a waning of the benefits of being on the platform known as ‘Twitter’ previously. Guardian said in its announcement that the social media platform now has disturbing content often.

“We wanted to let readers know that we will no longer post on any official Guardian editorial accounts on the social media site X—the Guardian said. Notably, the Guardian has over 80 accounts on X having approximately 27 million followers.

But what needs careful attention is its statement where it said—“This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism. The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered 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 shape political discourse.”

Musk to be Part of Trump’s Administration:

Elon Musk will be a part of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. Musk along with Vivek Ramaswamy will be heading a new department named DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), a first of its kind in the USA. Musk and Ramaswamy will be in an advisory capacity and DOGE will not be an official government department. 

It’s now well-known that Musk supported Trump. So Trump’s message is clear that whoever is loyal to him will benefit somehow or the other. Ramaswamy was in a fight with Trump earlier this year in the race to be a Republican candidate. The biotech investor later withdrew from the fight and endorsed Trump. Elon Musk will find his role in designing government cost-cutting and complement Trump in his effort to dismantle bureaucracy. 

Musk Criticised Heavily:

The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a UK-based organization, has repeatedly done research on X ever since Elon Musk acquired it. The CCDH has said time and again that hate content in the social media platform has risen since Musk’s acquisition in 2022 for $44 billion. 

The anti-hate group has accused Musk of intimidation for their research. The group said that Musk threatened legal action on its research. Other anti-hate groups and the EU have repeatedly criticized Musk over the contents of X. The world’s richest person and a Trump loyal have reinstated previously banned accounts including that of Alex Jones, a prominent conspiracy theorist, Andrew Tate and the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson. 

The CCDH decided to quit the platform while citing concerns about changes in the terms of service. Under the changed terms, all legal disputes centring X will be brought to the US district court in the northern districts of Texas or in Tarrant County. In its statement, CCDH said—“Now, the billionaire will be able to bring lawsuits to friendly courts against whoever disagrees with him on his platform. We made the decision to leave X because the platform has declined further.”

Others to Quit X:

Guardian is not the lone player in coming out of X, in the US itself we have other big media houses in the trail. In April 2023, the USA-based news outlet NPR (National Public Radio), which is a national syndicator to 797 public radio stations in the USA, was the first major news organization to leave X. 

NPR’s decision came when the social media platform labelled it as a “state-affiliated media”. This is a similar term used for Russia-based outlets that do propaganda for the government as well as in China and some other countries.

The immediate USA-based PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) followed suit. PBS is a non-commercial TV network engaged in broadcasting educational programs to public TV channels in the USA. PBS’s decision was on a similar line as of NPR, that Musk-owned social media platform labelled it as “government-funded media”. 

Putting everything into perspective, one thing emerges very clearly, under Musk’s leadership, X is losing its users at least in the form of some of the world’s leading media houses. And the reason for their quitting X is some serious allegations which may have far-reaching impact.