Elon Musk’s social media site, X, (formerly Twitter) is facing yet, another mass exodus by A-listers, but this time, it is over his involvement in the 2024 presidential campaign.
The tech mogul had heavily campaigned for President-elect Donald Trump, going as far as offering financial incentives to people who voted for the Republican candidate.
When Trump eventually won in the November election, he named the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX as leader of the newly created “Department of Government Efficiency”, alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
However, following the appointment and the election, a number of celebrities and major brands have announced their exit from the X app.
Some of these celebrities include;
1. Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis had posted a screenshot to her Instagram account on Wednesday, showing her X account had been deactivated. She had captioned it:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference.”
2. Popular news anchor, Don Lemon announced his X departure on Instagram and through a statement on X.
The statement read;
“I have loved connecting with all of you on Twitter and then on X for all of these years, but it’s time for me to leave the platform,” Lemon said in the Instagram video known as a Reel. “I once believed it was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency, and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose.”
Lemon also also cited X’s new terms of service as another reason for his leaving the site.
He thereafter directed people to follow him on other social media platforms including X competitor, Blue Sky, which was launched by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
3.Actress, Bette Midler’s X account disappeared shortly after Trump’s election win.
In some of her final posts on the site she declared Trump “a downright moron” and just before the election results, shared a photo of a bottle of champagne with a sticky note on it that read “If Kamala wins,” and a bottle of Drano drain cleaner with a note that read “If Trump wins,” according to The Telegraph.
4.News outlet, The Guardian based mainly in the U.K., while also having an outlet in Australia, announced it would be leaving X.
The media outlet had said in a parting statement;
“We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere,”
The Guardian had multiple ‘child’ accounts on X, with a total of 27 million followers according to a report on USA Today.
5.Berlin Film Festival- one of the world’s major film festivals also announced it would no longer be posting on X after 15 years on the site.
“The Berlinale has decided to say goodbye to X on Dec 31, 2024. Thank you for following us here all these years. Stay connected with all things Berlinale on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and our website. See you there! #Berlinale,” it announced in a statement on X.
The mass exit of prominent accounts on X is follows similar moves by celebrities who left the platform after Musk announced his intention to buy it and his eventual purchase in 2022.
Those who had left at the time included Elton John, Mia Farrow, Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Carrey and Jameela Jamil, among others.
