The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has announced she is quitting X, formerly Twitter, calling it a “gigantic global sewer” that is “destroying our democracies” by spreading abuse and misinformation.
After buying Twitter in 2022, the billionaire Elon Musk laid off thousands of employees, including many who moderated content on the platform. Rebranded as X, it has lost several major advertisers and has been criticised, including by the White House, for not doing enough to curtail antisemitism.
“I have made the decision to leave Twitter,” Hidalgo wrote in lengthy posts in English and French on Monday, citing manipulation, disinformation, antisemitism and attacks on scientists, climatologists, women and liberals.
“Twitter, far from being the groundbreaking medium that initially made information accessible to the greatest possible number of people, has in recent years become an impressive tool for destroying our democracies,” she added.
“This platform … intentionally exacerbates tensions and conflicts.”
Hidalgo’s campaign to transform Paris into a cycling capital has earned her scorn and praise on social media over the years, with some users criticising the seemingly endless work and visually unappealing worksites under the #SaccageParis (WreckParis) hashtag.
“This medium has become a gigantic global sewer, and we should continue to wade into it?” said the Socialist politician, whose failed bid for the French presidency garnered 1.7% of the vote in 2022.
“I refuse to endorse this evil scheme,” she said.
More recently, Hidalgo has come under fire for a trip to the French island of Tahiti, purportedly to view a 2024 Olympics surfing site, but that opponents said did not fall under her remit and during which she visited her daughter who lives there.
X users and opposition politicians used the #TahitiGate hashtag to lambast her over the partially taxpayer-funded trip.
Source : The Guardian
