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A swathe of UK-based nonprofits and campaign groups say they are set to ditch Twitter/X or drastically cut back their presence, in light of billionaire owner Elon Musk’s backing for Donald Trump.
During the campaign, Musk donated around $119 million to a so-called political action committee he set up to support Trump, according to US Federal Election Commission filings. He has relentlessly promoted pro-Trump content on his X feed over the past year, while prominent Trump supporters have been given a major boost in visibility.
The Tesla and SpaceX founder is expected to get a senior role in Trump’s administration. Tesla stock – a proxy for support for Musk and his enterprises – surged in the wake of Trump’s victory.
But a backlash is expected from Musk’s critics. UK campaign group Health Poverty Action, which has dropped X and moved to BlueSky instead as its main channel for external communications, is renewing a campaign for nonprofits and campaigners to abandon the platform.
A spokesperson for Health Poverty Action said in an open letter to UK civil society: “Each time we post on Twitter/X, without also posting it on another platform such as Bluesky, we help maintain Elon Musk’s power and wealth, which he uses to amplify voices of hate and misinformation. It’s time to stop being complicit.”
They added: “Once a space for public discourse, Twitter/X now fuels hatred and violence. We need to disrupt and dismantle its control and power. Collectively, we have the power to do that by stopping giving Elon Musk exclusive access to our content.”
Following Trump’s win in the presidential race, NPC, the think tank and consultancy for the UK’s ‘social sector’ with 25,000 followers on X, wrote: “NPC will no longer be posting on X/Twitter. We intend to close our account at the end of November.
“Please follow us on LinkedIn [at] NPC (New Philanthropy Capital) and we look forward to engaging with you all over there.”
The charity Race Equality Foundation, a Black-led national organisation dedicated to combating racial inequality in public services, already made the decision to leave X in August.
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The decision came in response to the platform’s role in “amplifying disinformation” in the run-up to the riots in Southport and the North of England over the summer.
“Despite numerous complaints about racist, Islamophobic, and other discriminatory content, the platform has failed to take adequate action. Furthermore, recent changes to the way ‘likes’ are amplified have only served to exacerbate the spread of hate speech,” a spokesperson for the Race Equality Foundation said.
The organisation has been on Twitter since 2010 and has – or had – over 10,000 followers.
Jabeer Butt OBE, CEO of the Race Equality Foundation, said it was “increasingly difficult for us to remain on a platform that not only tolerates but also amplifies extreme and harmful views.”
He added: “In the past, we could report racism on Twitter and expect some action to be taken. However, the surge in unaddressed complaints over the last few months suggests that the platform now views racist abuse as an acceptable, even valuable, form of engagement. This is something we cannot and will not endorse.”
The charity is building a base on other platforms such as Threads “to ensure that our key audience of ethnic minority Britons, sector leaders and policymakers can receive our updates.”
Charity chief Jabeer Butt said: “The Foundation does not take this decision lightly. We understand that X is a critical tool to engage with the public. As a result, we call on others to follow our decision of leaving the platform.”
Health Poverty Action, also leading the exodus, acknowledges that it is “hard for some of us to simply leave Twitter/X immediately,” after years of work building up followings on the site.
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“But we should at least stop sharing any post exclusively on Twitter. Otherwise, we force people to stay on it if they want to access our content.”
It is a call to action for “ethical organisations” to start using alternative platforms.
Many civil society groups have seen large drop-offs in engagement, as Elon Musk’s algorithm changes appear to benefit more right-wing voices.
“Musk’s new algorithm discourages sharing external links, making the platform even more exclusive. You now need an account to even see tweets, and DMs to non-mutuals are reserved for paying users. Having a voice is gradually becoming a perk for those who can pay, or those whose voice he wishes to amplify,” the Health Poverty Action statement notes.
Musk has also dismantled “essential safeguards” like official (free) verification for public figures, alongside mass layoffs in the trust and safety team and a watering down of moderation policies. Removal of hate speech on the platform has largely ceased.
X under Musk has also watered down the ability to block accounts, so that blocked users can still see your posts (but cannot interact). People can also see who has blocked them.
HPA writes: “These basic features are essential in maintaining a baseline of safety for users. If this is supposed to be the “world’s town square”, it’s certainly not one where everyone feels welcome, or even safe.
“Isn’t it time we choose a better, more inclusive place to share our ideas and engage with others?”
This week TechCrunch reported that Meta-owned Threads, which is connected to Instagram, now has 275 million monthly active users. Many UK journalists now post regularly there including Lewis Goodall, Victoria Derbyshire, George Monbiot, Marina Purkiss and Byline Times writers. UK politics discussions are particularly active on BlueSky.
Ukrainian journalist Maria Romanenko, a winner of the UK Prime Minister’s Points of Light award, told Byline Times on the day of Donald Trump’s victory: “For me, as a Ukrainian, this morning has been a depressing one.
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“Despite being a successful journalist and activist and having 30,000 followers on Twitter, I half-left it already a few months ago due to Musk’s views and it just becoming a far-right cesspit. In the lead up to the election, it’s been even worse but thankfully I’ve been trying to avoid Elon’s feed.”
Several other progressive think tanks and academic groups have made the switch or are in the process of leaving X, Byline Times has ascertained. They include the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll), the Institute for New Economic Thinking (University of Oxford), the Archives and Records Association, and Leeds Beckett University’s Journalism department.
The Barrow Cadbury Trust has surveyed its stakeholders to weigh up whether to make the leap off X.
And CharityComms, the membership body for professionals working in communications for UK charities, held a session on 5 September for its members to discuss whether to leave Twitter. Those conversations are now likely to escalate.
Many organisations have reported positive growth on Bluesky despite its smaller user base of 12 million worldwide, as of this October.
There is also likely to be pressure on the new Labour Government to focus on alternatives to X in its communications.
A group called NewsMast is also encouraging a switchover and says it is “ready to help any UK NGOs who want to move away from X towards decentralised alternatives” such as BlueSky or Mastodon.
The Food, Farming and Countryside Commission is understood to have left X in August.
Ella Ronan from Health Poverty Action added: “We have seen the harms X can do, across the world. We must stop being complicit.”
An earlier version of this article called CharityComms a network. It is a charity.
NewsMast says organisations that want advice or help in making a switchover from X can email support@newsmast.org. You can find out more about the Stop Being Complicit campaign here.