German institutions depart X, a day after Musk's Weidel talk

Scores of universities and research institutions in Germany and Austria on Friday announced their intention to drop their presence on the online messaging platform X (formerly Twitter), saying its algorithms were opposed to a discourse based on scientific and democratic integrity.

The planned withdrawal in the academic sphere comes as the German government says it is also considering leaving the platform because it was having an "agitated and polarizing" effect on public political discussion.

On Thursday, the trade unions GEW, which represents educators and teachers, and Verdi announced they were deleting their X presence, as did the Federal Court of Justice (BGH).

X 'incompatible' with fundamental values

In a statement, the institutions, which include some of Germany's most prestigious universities, said that X was steering a course that went against their principles.

"The withdrawal is a consequence of the incompatability of the platform's current orientation with the fundamental values of the institutions involved: open-mindedness, scientific integrity, transparency and democratic discourse," a joint statement said.

It said the way X's algorithm reinforced the propagation of right-wing populist content while restricting other views made any further use of the platform by the signees "untenable."

Berlin mulling a departure

The German government, in its turn, said on Friday that X and other social media platforms used algorithms that do not foster "a calm, objective and balanced discourse, but rather one that tends to be agitated and polarizing."  

A spokeswoman said the government was holding an ongoing discussion on whether to leave the platform but had decided to remain for the time being in view of the wide audience that could be reached via its services.

She denied that the government's concerns about X were linked to owner Elon Musk's involvement in German politics.

Musk has given vocal support to the German far-right party Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) via his platform, something that has caused concern to several politicians in Germany ahead of February elections.

Loudspeaker for Musk

The comments come a day after Musk held live talks on the platform with Alice Weidel, the leader of the AfD.

Musk has used X to call on German voters to choose the AfD at upcoming elections and to criticize several leading German politicians, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

He has also taken particular interest in the Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the UK of late, repeatedly calling on him to resign.

Critics also say the platform is failing to remove disinformation and hate speech.

The European Commission is currently examining whether Musk, a supporter of US President-elect Donald Trump, is adhering to the rules for social media networks that are in force in Europe.

tj/msh (dpa, AFP)