Elon Musk’s Antics Are Too Much for Germany’s Central Bank
French and German politicians and ministers are leaving X. They may be onto something.
What’s next?
Photographer: JIM WATSON/AFP“Spend less time on social media” is a New Year’s resolution that a lot of us are probably already breaking. In Europe, it’s a matter of state. An increasing number of continental politicians and government entities, including Germany’s central bank and its defense ministry, have suspended their accounts on X in response to billionaire owner Elon Musk’s antics. This “X-odus” matters — it has geopolitical significance as European leaders look for ways to reduce their dependency on newly emboldened and Donald Trump-aligned US tech.
The case for leaving or freezing out X is tied to the growing sense among prominent public users that the social-media market square is turning into a Musk-shaped megaphone. Complaints include that his tweets have become nigh-impossible to avoid, that X’s algorithm is super-charging fake news by favoring engagement over credibility, and that the combination of more artificial intelligence and less moderation is going to make things worse.