A number of verified Twitter users, celebrities, and others said they would leave the platform following Elon Musk’s purchase of the social media website Monday.
The term “leaving Twitter” trended on the website for several hours, as prominent users claimed that former President Donald Trump—perhaps the most influential poster before his suspension—would be allowed back on the website. For his part, Trump told Fox News Monday that he won’t be coming back to Twitter and said he will use his Truth Social platform instead.
“Looks like I’m about to say goodbye to Twitter as well. I’ve been pulling back a bit from social media anyway. This will be just the push I need to go all the way on this app,” wrote Charles Blow, a left-wing New York Times opinion writer, on
Twitter.
“One good thing about Elon buying Twitter is that I will FINALLY leave and stop being a complete menace to society on here. So it’s win win for you all really,” actress Jameela Jamil
wrote. She followed up with a post that claimed it was “my last tweet,” including pictures of the actress and her dog.
Left-wing activist and author Amy Siskind told her 550,000 followers that she is considering leaving the social media site. In a series of Twitter posts, Siskind claimed that “whatever content I provide here goes directly towards enriching one man, who I think is absolutely awful.”
“People need to understand that this is no longer a public company. Every post you make here is free content to enrich one man, Elon Musk. He is completely in control and answers to no one. I don’t view him as a mentally stable person,” she also
wrote.
Yvette Nicole Brown, an actress associated with Disney, said she would join a platform called Counter Social.
“I’m leaving too friend. I joined a site called [Counter Social] ... it appears to be fighting against what @twitter is about to become,” she
said.
After Monday’s announcement from Twitter and Musk, several news websites
published articles about how one can
delete their Twitter account.
On Monday, Twitter’s board said it would accept the Tesla CEO’s offer of $44 billion to take the company private. Musk, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” issued a
statement late Monday saying that he believes freedom of speech is a cornerstone of a healthy democratic society.
Previously, Musk has criticized Twitter’s content moderation practices and the suspensions of certain individuals.
In his statement, he also said the company should release the source code of its algorithm and make it open source. At the same time, Musk said that he will combat the proliferation of “spam bots” and automated accounts on Twitter.
“Today is an encouraging day for freedom of speech,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
wrote on Monday afternoon. “I am hopeful that Elon Musk will rein in Big Tech’s history of censoring users that have a different viewpoint.”
