Petition urges public authorities to discontinue use of X

A local councillor has launched a petition urging public authorities to remove themselves from X given the increasingly hostile nature of the platform towards minorities, saying continued engagement is the “antithesis of every councils, every public authority’s DEI strategy”.

Tania Stevenson, the UK’s only independent trans councillor and who was elected to Ockbrook and Borrowash Parish Council in Derbyshire, launched the petition on 4 January in response to rising hate and misinformation on X, as well as the unhinged behaviour of its owner Elon Musk and the platform’s paper thin moderation system which certainly doesn’t support trans folks or wider LGBTQ+ people.

X, formerly known as Twitter, was purchased by tech billionaire Elon Musk April 2022 for approximately $44 billion (£34.75 billion) and since then the platform has become increasingly rife with misinformation, conspiracy theories and hate speech, particularly in terms of antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ content.

The rise in hateful content resulted in several major brands pulling advertisements off the platform, not-for-profit GLAAD finding X to be the most dangerous platform for queer people and millions of users leaving X in favour of other platforms, such as Bluesky.

The petition, and a memorandum linked within it, calls on all public authorities – such as government departments, local councils, police forces and the NHS – to discontinue their official presence on X due to its policies and actions. Stevenson states those who do remove their accounts would be affirming “commitment to safeguarding equality, promoting diversity, and ensuring inclusivity in every aspect of their work”.

Speaking exclusively to PinkNews about the petition, Stevenson said she and others who face abuse on X because of their protected characteristics should not have to use the platform to find information about basic public services.

“When you have members of marginalised community groups – whether it be BME groups, LGBTQ+ groups or women and girls – when you feel threatened on that platform, you do not want to engage, you will not have an account. Therefore, you are excluded from participation,” Stevenson explained.

“So, if [public authorities are] publishing on that platform, they’re not going to reach everybody they want to because I don’t want to be part of that.

“I don’t have to go on there. I don’t [want] to go into the lion’s den to find out when my bins are being emptied this week.”

Stevenson said many public authorities might be unwilling to come off X because they have been on the platform for many years and made a lot of “investment in time, effort and energy” but at some point it “becomes so toxic it’s damaging to them and the reputation of their council, their health authority, their fire service”.

She noted Derbyshire Police, which has 125,000 followers on X, announced on Monday (6 January) that it would reducing its use of the platform. A spokesperson told the BBC the decision was “based on the quality and quantity of interactions with our posts”.

Stevenson hopes other public authorities might see this and think: “If the police have come off it, should we not be doing the same? It might, hopefully, be a bit of reflection.”

“The speed and pace of change in politics at this level is slower than you’d like and that’s the frustrating thing. I think there’ll be a lot of repetitional damage, It’ll be too late by the time they come off it, it will be a cesspit and that’s the point I’m at with them,” she said.

“Don’t dilly dally with this. Don’t go down with that ship. Do the right thing and be seen to be doing so.

“I get involved a lot with local councils and help them write some of their EDI policies and it galls me. I think, I spent all this time for you, for free, helping you write policies for HR for trans people so you talk a good game on EDI and then you completely undo that work with what you do on Twitter?”

Noting to most recent X firestorm – which saw Musk accused prime minister Keir Starmer of being “complicit” in the crimes of grooming gangs – Stevenson questioned “how far does this have to go?”.

“How bad is it going to get and, in another sort of weird way, I don’t want to look. How far down that sewage pipe does it have to get before [public authorities] realise that their drowning?,” she asked.

“It intrigues me and appalls me at the same time.”