German football club FC St. Pauli leaves X, warns ELON MUSK is ‘capable of influencing German election’

Saturday, November 16, 2024 - FC St. Pauli, a German football club currently competing in the country’s top-tier league, has announced leaving the social media platform X, describing it as a threat to democracy.

This comes after a number of businesses, including The Guardian left X after Elon Musk's involvement in the US presidential election.

In a post on the club’s website on Thursday, St. Pauli said “Elon Musk had turned a space for debate into an amplifier of hate that was capable of influencing the German parliamentary election campaign.”

'FC St. Pauli is withdrawing from the social media platform, X,' they posted on their club website. 'The Boys in Brown joined the platform in 2013 and had 250,000 followers.

'Announcing its reasons for withdrawing, the club said that owner Elon Musk had turned a space for debate into an amplifier of hate that was capable of influencing the German parliamentary election campaign.

'Since taking over Twitter, as the platform was previously known, Musk has converted X into a hate machine. Racism and conspiracy theories are allowed to spread unchecked and even curated. Insults and threats are seldom sanctioned and are sold as freedom of speech.

'In addition, following his election victory Donald Trump has picked Musk to head up a new government department. Musk was a major backer of the Trump campaign and also used X for this purpose. It is to be assumed that X will also promote authoritarian, misanthropic and far-right content during the forthcoming German election campaign, this manipulating the public discourse.'

St Pauli, who are currently 16th in the league table, confirmed their current content will remain on the site, but they will no longer be posting.

'FC St Pauli had already curbed its use of X and increasingly posted political statements in support of diversity and inclusion to make a stand against hate,' the statement continued. 'Now the club is ceasing its activity on X.

'The account will no longer be used, but the content of the last 11 years will remain online in view of its contemporary historical value.

'The club would like to thank its members for the critical exchange on what to do about X and calls on its followers on the platform to switch to BlueSky.

'FC St. Pauli’s English account will also move to BlueSky.'