'Ouest-France' becomes first French newspaper to stop posting on X

RFI

20 November 2024 at 5:59 am·1-min read

This file combination image of two pictures created on 10 October 2023, shows SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

French regional daily Ouest-France, the top-selling paper in the country, is the latest in a string of European publications to suspend posts on X, formerly Twitter. The social media platform is accused of enabling the spread of disinformation under its owner Elon Musk, an ally of US president-elect Donald Trump.

"We are not against social networks, we are simply asking for the application of the law" on X, Francois-Xavier Lefranc, chairman of the board of Ouest-France, told French news agency AFP on Tuesday.

He added that the decision was taken "fairly unanimously internally".

The daily, which is targeted at France's vast western region and still sells over 600,000 paper copies a day, is the first French daily to quit X after Britain's The Guardian, La Vanguardia in Spain and Dagens Nyheter in Sweden.

Sports clubs have also begun turning away from the platform.

On Tuesday, German football club Werder Bremen joined fellow Bundesliga side St Pauli in leaving X, citing an "incredible" increase in "hate speech" since it was bought by Musk in 2022.

Top French newspapers sue X for unpaid use of their content

Several users had already wondered back then whether they should remain on Twitter when Musk – a businessman best known for running car company Tesla and space company SpaceX – rebranded it as X, and drastically reduced content moderation in the name of free speech.

Spain's Vanguardia said it would rather lose subscribers than remain on a "disinformation network".

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