Value And Policy Criticism, More Than 60 German Universities Leave Platform X

Illustration Of 60 German Universitys Leaving Platform X (Between)

JAKARTA - More than 60 universities and higher education institutions in Germany officially announced their decision to leave social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter on Saturday, January 2025.

This step was taken because the platform is considered to have failed to support fundamental values such as diversity, freedom, and academic integrity.

In a joint statement, the institutions criticized the platform now owned by Elon Musk for the spread of far-right populist content, which is considered "unacceptable" and contrary to democratic principles.

"This step provides a firm message about the importance of fact-based communication, as well as against the influence of anti-democracy forces," the statement read.

Achim Zolke, spokeswoman foreen Heine University in D\"usseldorf, who was the main driver of the initiative, said that the number of universities joining continues to grow every hour.

SilkeANG, a spokesman for Potsdam University, highlighted significant changes to the platform's operations and algorithms. According to him, algorithm X actually hinders the distribution of objective information and affects the direction of negative public discussion.

Engel also highlighted the weak oversight of the platform under the pretext of free speech, which he considered exacerbating the spread of hate speech, disinformation, and manipulation.

Several universities that decided to leave X includeENCE Heine D\"usseldorf University, Freie Berlin University, Humboldt University, Heidelberg University, M\"unster University, RWTH Aachen University, German Sports University Cologne, and European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder).

This decision was taken following Elon Musk's public support for the Alternative far-right party for Germany (AfD), just weeks before the German election. This support sparked sharp criticism from German leaders, who think Musk has interfered in the country's political process.

Since Musk's takeover of X, the platform has lost many users due to the removal of most controls over the spread of disinformation and hate speech.