The Guardian is to stop posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, from its official accounts, editor-in-chief Katharine Viner has told staff.
Viner said in an email on Wednesday that X has become “a toxic media platform” under owner Elon Musk and that it now plays “a diminished role in promoting our work”.
Individual journalists are still permitted to post on the platform and to use it as a reporting tool, Viner added, but she discouraged staff from embedding tweets in articles “unless necessary to the story” because the platform has become “less stable and less useful as an experience for our readers”.
The Guardian and Observer operate more than 40 active X accounts, collectively boasting more than 20 million followers. Of those accounts, 13 are verified.
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Besides a post announcing its departure, the last tweet The Guardian posted to its main account at 7.15am on Wednesday promoted an article about tropical birdwatching.
The account’s bio now states: “This account has been archived. Follow us on https://theguardian.com or download our app.”
Viner told staff the move was “something we have been thinking about for a while, given the often disturbing content promoted on the platform.
“The presidential election campaign only served 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.”
Although social media “can be an important tool” for reaching new audiences, Viner said the organisation feels “that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives.
“We believe resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere.”
Among respondents surveyed for the Digital News Report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism this year, 11% said they had used X/Twitter for news over the preceding week. That was lower than the proportion who said they had gotten news from Instagram (15%), Whatsapp (16%), Youtube (22%) and Facebook (26%), but more than Tiktok (8%).
NPR became the first major English-language news outlet to leave X in protest at Musk’s ownership in April 2023, followed by fellow public broadcaster PBS two days later. NPR told staff in a memo seen by Nieman Lab six months later that the traffic effects had been “negligible”.
The Guardian maintains an active presence on Meta’s Instagram-linked Threads, where its main account has 1.3 million followers. The Guardian is yet to set up a central profile on rival platform Bluesky, but Guardian Australia has an account.
The Guardian regularly posts to Facebook (where it has 8.9 million followers) and Instagram (where it has 5.8 million followers).
[Read more: Twitter’s shrinking role as traffic source for news publishers revealed]
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