The Nashville Banner announced in a series of posts to the social media platform X on Thursday that it is leaving the platform, citing the direction of the social media service since it was purchased by Elon Musk, who changed the company’s name from Twitter to X the next year.
In an announcement posted to the social media platform X, the news outlet wrote, “As of today, the Nashville Banner will stop posting on X.”
The media company then claimed to be “disturbed” by a “rapid increase of racism, conspiracy theories, and disinformation on the platform over the last two years.” Musk purchased the platform in October 2022.
“X’s decision to de-emphasize safety and moderation — and limit tools like blocking — has created a toxic environment,” the outlet claimed, alluding to X’s recent decision to allow users to see posts written by those who “blocked” them from engaging with their content. Users still cannot engage with those who are blocked and could previously see posts from blocked individuals by using a second account or logging out of the platform.
As of today, the Nashville Banner will stop posting on X. Here's why…
— Nashville Banner (@nashvillebanner) November 20, 2024
The Banner then cited changes made to the X algorithm, which censored three news outlets accused of harboring left-wing biases, and the scanning of content posted to X for use by the company’s artificial intelligence, Grok, as additional reasons to leave the platform.
In addition to its website and newsletter, the news outlet advised readers to find its content on Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, as well as Bluesky, the social media platform made popular by Democrats after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris on November 5.
Bluesky was founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019 after Dorsey left Twitter. However, the founder later left the company by May 2024 due to disagreements over its direction, and instead advised people to continue using X. It is now controlled by CEO Jay Graber, whose tenure has seen Bluesky seek to compete directly with X after Musk purchased the platform.
While Bluesky recently claimed to surpass 20 million total users, a reported 588 million users signed into X in September alone. It has also been estimated that just 115,000 users left X after Trump’s historic victory.
The Banner’s decision to leave X also comes after CNN reported that the company’s users are evenly politically divided. Forty-eight percent of its users identify with the Democratic Party and 47 percent with the Republican Party, while nearly two-thirds of the platform’s users were Democrats prior to Musk’s purchase.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Nashville Banner Skyblue” by Nashville Banner.Â
