FC St. Pauli announce decision to leave X
| Photo: Selim Sudheimer/Getty Images |
German Bundesliga club FC St. Pauli have decided to leave the social media platform X.
The decision has been made in response to how the platform, formerly known as Twitter, has changed since it was acquired by American multi-billionaire Elon Musk, with St Pauli believing there has been an increase in hate messages and racism.
"Since Musk took over Twitter, as the platform was formerly known, he has turned it into a hate machine. Racism and conspiracy theories spread freely or are even curated. Insults and threats are barely sanctioned and sold as supposed freedom of speech," read a statement from FC St. Pauli.
Musk's active support for Donald Trump, who won the American presidential election, also played a role in the decision.
"Donald Trump announced after his election victory that he would make Musk the head of a newly created government agency. Musk had already actively supported Trump during the election campaign, also with the help of X. It can be assumed that X is also promoting authoritarian, misanthropic and right-wing extremist content in the German federal election campaign and thus manipulating public discourse."
Going forward, St. Pauli will communicate on the BlueSky platform instead. The club's account on X will no longer be used, but the content of the profile will remain online as it has historical value.