BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s foreign and defence ministries said on Wednesday they would refocus their public communications away from Elon Musk’s X, with the defence department saying it had become increasingly “unhappy” with developments at the social media platform.
Musk has been accused of meddling in European politics, with his interventions since September including a call for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be replaced, labelling German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “incompetent fool” and urging a vote for the far-right Alternative for Germany.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has implied in his posts that he is criticising tendencies, such as immigration, that he believes threaten the future of the countries in question.
Neither German ministry specifically mentioned Musk’s interventions, most recently capped by a live interview on X with AfD leader Alice Weidel, as a reason for their decision to change strategy.
“We have become increasingly unhappy with developments there,” a defence ministry spokesperson told a regular news conference.
The ministry said it might still respond to disinformation on X, but that its social communications would go via Meta’s WhatsApp messenger.
A foreign ministry spokesperson said they continually monitor the platforms where they are present and the debates surrounding them, and as a result had decided to intensify their presence on upstart platform BlueSky.
X has said its user numbers have been rising since Musk bought the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022, though polls and studies by research firms have found the opposite.
In recent weeks, a growing number of German and UK universities and research institutions have departed the platform.
The loss of institutions is potentially a more serious blow for social networks than individuals, as by contributing verified information, they contribute to the “network effects” that make a platform compelling as a place for discussion.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Rachel More in Berlin, Aislinn Lang in Madrid and Andy Bruce in London; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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