The Guardian stops posting on Elon Musk’s ‘toxic’ X

British newspaper group the Guardian has announced it will no longer post on X, formerly Twitter, saying it has become a “a toxic media platform”.

In a message to readers, it said the US presidential election “underlined” its concerns that its owner, Elon Musk, had been able to use X to “shape political discourse.”

Mr Musk strongly backed Donald Trump and has now been given a role cutting government spending in his incoming administration.

The BBC has contacted X for comment.

The Guardian said users would still be able to share articles and it was likely continue to embed X posts in its coverage of world events.

It also said its reporters would be able to carry on using the site “for news-gathering purposes.”

But it said the “benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives.”

“This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism,” it added.

The decision was also posted on X itself, where some users reacted with vitriol, with those who paid for prominent replies accusing the Guardian of “woke propaganda” and “virtue signalling”.

Mr Musk and the Guardian are far from political bed fellows, so in that sense it is not surprising that the newspaper has responded to his and X’s increasing alignment with Trump in this way.

But it can also be argued the election result is an opportunity for the paper, which describes itself as “the world’s leading liberal voice.”

It is positioning itself as a key part of the “resistance” to Donald Trump, using the US election to highlight that is a media organisation without a billionaire proprietor – while also asking its readers for donations.

The day after the election, readers pledged more than $1.8m (£1.4m), a record for a single day.

Ben Mullin, the New York Times’ media reporter, described the media group’s fundraising as “a sign that some outlets are tapping a surge of enthusiasm for adversarial journalism post-election”.

The Guardian’s departure is also likely to intensify questions about whether others will follow.

X’s rivals already appear to be benefiting.

Meta’s Threads has continued to expand, and Bluesky – set up by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey – briefly topped the download charts in the UK and US Apple App Stores.

Its userbase has grown by four million in two months, and Bluesky said in a post on Tuesday that it had picked up a million new users in the seven days since Trump’s win.

However it remains comparatively tiny, with 15 million users worldwide.