We did not make this decision lightly, especially as there are different points of view within the editorial team on how to deal with this issue. Ultimately, however, we agreed not to post any more content on Twitter for the time being – and yes, for us the network is still called “Twitter”.
There are several reasons for this. At the top of the list is Elon Musk. Since taking over, he has gradually transformed Twitter into a platform for right-wing radicals. Algorithms, functions, pushing the agenda of right-wing populists and right-wing radicals – Musk courts actors such as Donald Trump, Martin Sellner and Björn Höcke and fuels conspiracy theories and right-wing viewpoints with false information.
He does this not “only” with his tweets, but also by increasing the reach of such topics and thus actively influencing public discourse and, above all, young people.
Right from the start as Twitter boss, the American blocked the accounts of several journalists who had reported critically about him in the past. He later left some of them behind. Nevertheless, it is clear as soon as you open the app that objective discourse, good content and diversity only have a marginal place on this platform.
Instead, populism and “premium” accounts that farm interactions with questionable content dominate. The platform, once known for its quick access to good information, is a breeding ground for right-wing extremism, which we do not want to continue to feed.
Why didn’t we react sooner? Probably for the same reasons that so many people we value are still there. We believed that we had to be on this platform, which once had such a wide reach for us, in order to continue to be a topic of discussion. And we held on to the people who follow us there.
If we look more closely at reality, we can see that our interactions have dropped rapidly in recent months and years. This is partly because we were not particularly active for a while. But no matter what we tried in recent months, we always remained far behind the numbers we once had – with roughly the same number of followers.
We feel that link posts are penalized by the algorithm so that we have no chance of spreading our content there. Even people who follow us often don’t see us in their timeline. So this is a second component that makes this step easier for us.
We could have just gone silently. But maybe we can get another push going. As much as we all cling to the nostalgia and old glory of this platform, we can no longer ignore the fact that Twitter has become a plaything of actors who trample on the values of our democracy that we stand for as Miasanrot.
Bluesky is an alternative that is functionally more and more reminiscent of the Twitter we knew from before. We don’t want to sugarcoat anything: many people who still can’t break away from Twitter are missing from it. Many are already there. But the network is growing and if we don’t gradually have the courage to break away from what we think we still have on Twitter, nothing will ever change.
We are deliberately saying “Goodbye, Twitter”. In the hope that a miracle will happen at some point. But for now, we are out and would be happy if you stay loyal to us on other networks. For example, since this year we have had a WhatsApp channel that is filled with all of our content. We are also very active on Instagram. You can also follow us on Bluesky, Facebook/Meta and Threads.
Facebook networks also have their problematic sides, but Twitter had them before, too. What we are currently experiencing on Musk’s Twitter, however, is crossing boundaries for us.
You can find the links to our other social media presences below. We are not deleting our account, but we will not be using it for the time being.
Another important point in this context is that our English site is primarily managed and filled with content by our author Marc. I would think it wrong to decide over his head that our .com Twitter account is no longer actively used. Since the English site is even more dependent on interactions on Twitter and that is basically the only network that he and the other authors actively use, this account remains unaffected by the decision.
Thank you for your understanding
Justin Kraft, Editor-in-Chief of Miasanrot
Of course, you can continue to follow us in our curve.
