More than 55 universities and research institutes in Germany announced on Friday that they will no longer publish material on Elon Musk’s social media platform X from their official accounts, German media reported.
The public broadcaster RBB cited a statement by the Federal Association of University Communication:
“The conditions for an open exchange no longer exist. The door has been opened to hatred, disinformation and manipulation under the cloak of supposed freedom of expression.”Â
According to Silke Engel, spokeswoman for the University of Potsdam, earlier in the day its management decided to close its official account on the social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, after more than 13 years of existence. Engel said:
“We have been watching X for a long time and have not been as active there as we once were there for a few months because of the political developments. We said to ourselves that we are a place for fact-based exchange, open discourse and transparency that is no longer the case.”
On Thursday, two major German trade unions, the United Service Workers’ Union (Verdi) and the Education and Science Workers’ Union (GEW), left X after some 15 years of operation.
Both workers’ organisations criticised the platform as “a forum for spreading right-wing extremist positions, hatred and agitation, hostility to democracy and disinformation.” It is becoming increasingly clear that the platform’s algorithms “favour anti-democratic narratives,” the unions stressed.
The latest developments come amid sharp criticism from Germany’s political establishment of Musk for interfering in the February 23 general election.
The US tech billionaire, who will be an adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, on Thursday reiterated his strong support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of the election. Musk said in an online talk on X with AfD leader Alice Weidel:
“If you are unhappy with the situation, you must vote for change. And that is why I’m really strongly recommending that people vote for AfD. That’s why that’s my strong recommendation. And I think this is simply the sensible move. In fact, I, as I’ve said publicly, I think only AfD can save Germany. And I just want to be very clear about that: Only AfD can save Germany, end of story. And people really need to get behind the AfD, otherwise things gonna get very, very much worse in Germany.”
Last week, the German government openly accused Musk of trying to influence the country’s election campaign by showing his support for AfD.
On Wednesday, Germany’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Ferda Ataman called on German cabinet members to close their social media X accounts because of Musk’s posts about German politics.
In December, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) decided not to post any more content on Elon Musk’s X from January 20, 2025, when Donald Trump officially becomes the 47th president of the US.
