The Swedish daily will stop publishing its content on X (formerly Twitter), accusing the platform of having merged more and more with the ambitions of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
“Since its takeover by Elon Musk, the platform has increasingly merged with his and Donald Trump’s political ambitions, while the climate on X has become harsher and more extreme,” said editor-in-chief Peter Wolodarski in an article published on X.
“Therefore, we will no longer post anything on this site from our official accounts at this time,” he added.
Yet another departure
Elon Musk displayed unwavering support for Donald Trump throughout the campaign for the American presidential election. In particular, he put his personal X account, followed by nearly 205 million people, at the service of the Republican candidate. He was appointed Tuesday by US President-elect Donald Trump to head a newly created Department of “Government Effectiveness”.
Since he bought the platform for $44 billion in 2022, he has reduced security teams, undermined content moderation and reopened conspiracy accounts that had been banned.
Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR) ceased its X-ray activities in April 2023, stating that the platform, then still called Twitter, had “changed” and lost its relevance. Sweden’s main tabloid, Aftonbladet, also stopped publishing on X in September 2023, favoring Tiktok, which has also been accused of promoting my misinformation.
Karin Schmidt, an editorial manager at Aftonbladet, called X a “lost platform.” “Unlike X, I think it’s important that we are on Tiktok, where we can go against the tide of fake news,” she told Dagens Nyheter.
