Everyone has a breaking point, and I reached mine nine days ago when Elon Musk endorsed the German far right. “Is the German public aware of this?” he asked while retweeting a call for Germans to vote for the increasingly extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD), and suggesting it is scandalous that the country pays for the rescue of migrants who would otherwise drown in the Mediterranean. “Yes. And it’s called saving lives,” the German government responded. “So you’re actually proud of it. Interesting,” Musk chin-stroked in return, making reference to “invasion vibes.”
Thus ended a decade and a half of my active—and occasionally hyperactive—participation in Twitter, then X. I am not shuttering my account, in case new management comes around one day, and because my job requires me to visit the site from time to time. But I’m not contributing to the platform anymore while it remains under its current leadership because I feel that now amounts to supporting someone who doesn’t merely have inhumane views, but who has done his damnedest to chase away those who disagree with him, while financially rewarding those who seek to fuel discord and hatred. Fine, X is what it has become, and I’m off. Now I’m spending all my microblogging time on Bluesky and Mastodon.
