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Would the City of London consider leaving Elon Musk-owned X, formerly known as Twitter, as a place to publish official municipal government announcements? The answer is – maybe.
In a letter to city council, Londoner Sameer Vasta is urging them to do exactly that, ripping the platform as a place filled with disinformation that undermines the “importance and trustworthiness” of official city communications.
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“The X platform has become increasingly associated with hate speech, intolerance, and bigotry, and has failed to adequately address harmful content that targets marginalized groups based on race, gender, sexuality, religion, and other protected characteristics,” Vasta wrote.
His letter was subsequently posted to another active social media site, Reddit, and drew 500 interactions. The majority of the comments appeared to be in support of Vasta’s push.
“Totally agree that X should be dropped,” one person wrote. “We shouldn’t be supporting a platform that is dismantling fact-backed information.”
X is owned by Musk, the world’s richest man. He’s a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and has faced increasingly loud public criticism in recent months. This local pushback surfaces as his electric-vehicle company, Tesla, is set to open a full-scale dealership in the city’s south end.
One analysis suggests Tesla sales in Canada have dropped by about 70 per cent in the last year.
Other cities and government bodies in Canada, including the City of Cambridge and the Supreme Court of Canada, have also dropped the platform, Vasta said.
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“It is my hope that council will consider shifting its official communications to channels that best serve the public,” Vasta wrote.
City hall has four official social media networks advertised on its website: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X.
Coun. Sam Trosow said that while he “hate(s) everything about X,” he concedes the city still has an immense reach on the platform.
“It’s the same problem I personally have. The city has a lot more (followers) than I do, but I can’t just cut off people that have followed me over the years,” he said. “There are a lot of products I don’t like that I feel I have to use, and I think the city is going to feel the same way.”
While he encourages the idea of the city eventually migrating away from X, he would be more in favour of a phase-out than an abrupt cut-off to its 73,000 followers.
Eliza Bennett, the city’s director of strategic communications, said in a statement Tuesday there have been discussions about where the city should focus its strategy “in light of the rapidly shifting social media landscape.”
The city is researching engagement trends and analytics on its platforms and reaching out to other cities about their approach, she said.
“We’re keeping in mind the need to balance any changes to our social media strategy with the duty to inform all Londoners,” Bennett said. “We don’t have an answer just yet to share, but we do expect to have one very soon.”
jmoulton@postmedia.com
@JackAtLFPress
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