Expect Users Who Declare Their Departures From X To Return Quietly Once the Dust Settles

Next month the European Federation of Journalists will cease using X because the site’s owner, Elon Musk, moderates content with a light hand. They’re the latest to abandon the platform with great fanfare, while maintaining the option to slink back in silence. The Federation writes on its website that it “has decided it will no longer post content” on X as of January 20. They chose the date for symbolism. It’s Inauguration Day, when President Trump will be sworn to the parchment for a second term.The Guardian, Dagens Nyheter, La Vanguardia, Ouest-France, Sud-Ouest, and other European press publications as well as the German Journalists’ Association have also decamped X. In the wake of President Trump’s win, many supporters of Vice President Harris have done the same. While those opposed to President Trump and Mr. Musk may want to take a moral stand, they often hesitate to cut loose the followers they’ve gained. Leaving their accounts “frozen,” which is how the Federation described its move, hints that they won’t be gone for good.An actor from “Star Wars,” Mark Hamill, announced he was decamping for Bluesky after the election. But he left his X page, and its 4.9 million followers, online. The horror author, Stephen King, told his 7 million followers that he was heading to Threads, finding X “too toxic,” while also leaving his page active. It’s the digital version of threatening to flee the country if the candidate you dislike wins. You can make a splash by deleting or suspending an X account without the hassle of packing up, and you don’t get gouged by foreign tax rates.Those who abandon X may believe, as the Federation put it, that they “can no longer ethically participate in a social network that its owner has transformed into a machine of disinformation and propaganda.” However, the reach of X just isn’t available anywhere else.Press organs and other creators have built their traffic models around X, fueling its growth into the dominant force it is under Mr. Musk. Quitting it may seem simple, but doing so means throwing away a megaphone and reducing one’s voice to a whisper. With X boasting of between 500 million to 600 million monthly active users, those who ditch the platform are surrendering it to their ideological foes. Rather than light candles, they curse the darkness on their way out the door. It might be satisfying in the heat of the moment, but when tempers cool, it will seen as folly.One historian who appears often on cable, Allan Lichtman, blamed “disinformation” and Mr. Musk after his prediction that Ms. Harris would win failed to materialize. “I am done with X,” he tweeted. “I will be deactivating my account soon.” He invited fans to follow him to Bluesky. Mr. Lichtman’s entire X account, archives and all, disappeared. Less than a day later, though, it resurfaced without explanation and the goodbye message was gone. One obvious reason: He had more than 110,000 followers on X and less than 5,000 on Bluesky. When trying to gain their footing, alternatives to X run up against brand loyalty. Advertisers target the age group between 18 and 34 in hopes of hooking them for life. Prying people away from the familiar is difficult, and the climb gets steeper as the social media landscape fragments with more options.Two years ago, before Mr. Musk bought X and trumpeted a commitment to free speech, the shoe was on the other foot — the right one. When conservatives complained about bias on what was then Twitter, the standard taunt from the left was to go build their own platform. President Trump took that bet with Truth Social in February of 2022. After almost three years, it has attracted just a fraction of X’s users. On Bluesky and Threads, where many Democrats flocked after President Trump won a second term, it may be impossible to rebuild their previous audiences. From the printing press and radio through TV and the internet, the best answer to speech one dislikes or with which one disagrees has always been more speech. Expect many of the 47th president’s opponents to recognize that fact and return to X — the best place to light a rhetorical candle if you want its flame to be seen.

Expect Users Who Declare Their Departures From X To Return Quietly Once the Dust Settles

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