German government agency abandons X platform

Due to criticism of the culture and lack of moderation, the German Ministry of the Environment plans to temporarily suspend its use of the X social media platform. 

This move follows a string of announcements by other German government agencies, such as the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces (Bundeswehr), Caliber.Az reports citing German media outlets. 

According to the environmental agency, their communication will shift to other social media networks. Since December 2024, their posts have already been first published on the X-alternative, Bluesky and Instagram, and only later on Platform X. Going forward, the ministry intends to stop using X entirely as it has become apparent that engaging in "meaningful discussions" on the platform is very challenging. 

An exodus from the platform, formally known as Twitter, has started when Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022 as changes in moderation and restrictions on speech had been lifted. Another mass wave of exits occurred shortly after the November 2024 presidential elections, with private users and corporations announcing their departure from X.

The majority of them are switching to Meta-based platforms like Instagram or Facebook or join the relatively new platform, Bluesky. The former had been created as a project within Twitter in 2019 by then-CEO Jack Dorsey. He has remained with the new platform until February 2024. 

By Nazrin Sadigova