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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Marie Le Conte

To anybody still using X: sexual abuse content is the final straw, it’s time to leave

The XAI logo and a Grok account on X displayed on a phone screen
‘If you have a number of followers on X, it will be hard for you to willingly leave.’ Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

Some wars can’t be won. It can be hard to come to terms with this fact when you’re still on the battlefield, but if somehow you manage to step out for a moment, then the truth will become obvious. You have lost, the people on your side have lost, the villains have won and, if anything, you should have run away a long time ago.

My own sad epiphany about Twitter, now known as X, came in the immediate aftermath of the US election in 2024. I’d spent a lot of that year lying to myself, ignoring the increasing volume of abuse I’d been receiving and the fact that no one ever read my linked pieces any more, but that week I realised I had to stop. I had to leave X for good.

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