Why are London's public institutions still posting to X? This man says it's time to stop
Man sends letter to City of London with concerns about explicit content and ownership
A Londoner is calling on the city to stop using the website X, formerly Twitter, to send out official communication because of the site's associations with hate speech and bigotry.
"The X platform has become increasingly associated with hate speech, intolerance, and bigotry, and has failed to adequately address harmful content that targets marginalized groups based on race, gender, sexuality, religion, and other protected characteristics," Sameer Vasta wrote in a letter to politicians.
"By maintaining a presence on a platform where discriminatory behaviour is prevalent and under-regulated, the city risk legitimising or indirectly supporting the harmful narratives that thrive there."
The City of London uses the account to send out information about community grants, events, registration deadlines and traffic detours, among other things. The site is also used by London Hydro to post information about outages.
The London Fire Department posts updates on fire calls, and the London Police Service posts about missing people, traffic disruptions and crimes. X is also used by school boards to announce snow days and activities going on in the region.
"Our elected leaders and institutions talk so much about equity and justice and how diversity is key to our city building. Yet they go on these platforms where they are kind of endorsing the use of hatred, violence against people who look like me, people who are of diverse backgrounds, people who want to be part of this community, and are shunned because of things we read on platforms like X," Vasta told CBC's London Morning.
X is owned by Elon Musk, who has become a polarizing figure in American President Donald Trump's administration.
The city keeps using X because it remains a good way to reach a large number of Londoners quickly, Mayor Josh Morgan told Vasta.
"To be clear, we do not align with or support Elon Musk's views, nor do we endorse the troubling rise in hate speech and misinformation on the platform," Morgan wrote in an email. "These issues are serious, and we recognize the concerns raised by residents about the environment on X."
The city is looking at ways to expand its communication to other platforms, Morgan said. It, and other organizations, also post on Facebook and Instagram.
Vasta left Twitter after Musk bought it. "I thought that was a good time for me to leave even though it meant leaving a significant part of my social life and a significant following that I had online," he said. "I knew that in the past, Elon had shown leanings toward identifying with some of these pieces of hatred and bigotry and I didn't want to be associated with that."
Vasta's city councillor, Anna Hopkins, told him she has stopped using X. "I would encourage you to reach out to all of council to do the same," she told him.
The city and others should quantify how effective X actually is at reaching a large number of people, Vasta said. Some of the information might be posted but then get buried by an algorithm that doesn't prioritize such content, he added.
City of Cambridge leaves X
"There are other platforms and spaces online, particularly your own messaging platforms, instant messages, newsletters, blogs, and websites that don't support hatred and bigotry and harmful content that targets marginalized groups like X does," he said.
"Even if it's a place where you could reach a lot of people, it isn't the right place to reach people."
The city of Cambridge stopped using X in February, citing concerns about the site's reliability and its promotion of racism and misinformation. "The city feels X no longer aligns with the values of inclusively, respect, integrity, service and responsible communication," Cambridge official said.
London police told CBC News the platform is a quick and reliable way to get essential information out to its 80,000 followers.
The Thames Valley School Board said it will keep posting on X because the website's analytics show that many people see the posts.
The London District Catholic School Board declined to answer any questions on the topic and did not provide a reason.