Dozens of universities and establishments of studies in Germany and Austria announced plans on Friday to leave their presence on the online messaging platform X (previously Twitter), saying that their algorithms were reluctant to a speech on clinical 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.
The Gew unions, which constitute educators and teachers, and Verdi announced that they would suppress their presence on Thursday, as indicated by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH).
In a statement, the institutions, which include some of Germany’s most prestigious universities, said X was carrying out a course that was 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.”
The German government, in turn, said Friday that X and other social media platforms use algorithms that do not favor “calm, objective and balanced discourse, but have a tendency 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 considerations about X were similar 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.
The comments come a day after Musk spoke on the platform with Alice Weidel, leader of the AfD.
Musk has used
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 recently examining Musk, a supporter of the elected president of the United States, Donald Trump, meets the rules of social networks in Europe.
tj/msh (dpa, AFP)