St Pauli becomes the first major football team to boycott X and move to BlueSky

Bundesliga football team FC St Pauli has become the first major football team to boycott X / Twitter and move to rival Bluesky because it believes the social media platform could potentially influence the outcome of the upcoming German election.

A number of social media users, whether they are organisations or individuals, are leaving Elon Musk's platform in their droves permanently for similar reasons.

Grok, X / Twitter's own AI chatbot, has even said the tech billionaire has "been involved in spreading misinformation on several occasions through his social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), which he owns and where he has a significant following".

The club posted a lengthy statement explaining its decision.

"Owner Elon Musk had turned a space for debate into an amplifier of hate that was capable of influencing the German parliamentary election campaign," it said.

"Since taking over Twitter, as the platform was previously known, Musk has converted X into a hate machine. Racism and conspiracy theories are allowed to spread unchecked and even curated. Insults and threats are seldom sanctioned and are sold as freedom of speech.

"In addition, following his election victory, Donald Trump has picked Musk to head up a new government department. Musk was a major backer of the Trump campaign and also used X for this purpose. It is to be assumed that X will also promote authoritarian, misanthropic and far-right content during the forthcoming German election campaign, this manipulating the public discourse.

"FC St Pauli had already curbed its use of X and increasingly posted political statements in support of diversity and inclusion to make a stand against hate. Now the club is ceasing its activity on X. The account will no longer be used but the content of the last 11 years will remain online in view of its contemporary historical value."

The club also urged its followers to do the same.

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