The exit is accompanied by an exit week in which the alliance partners provide information about the dangers of Hass speech on their social media channels.
Berlin, June 18, 2024 - Red card against hatred and agitation: 45 organizations from the areas of environment, health, agriculture, human rights and social affairs (list below) on Tuesday jointly announce the posting of their activities to X. The alliance »Exit« on the international day against Hate Speech is therefore a sign of a democratic and respectful debate culture.
The organizations will their more than 180,000 X-follower hashtag #byebyeelon as part of an "exit week", which also starts on Tuesday, in several final postings about the topic of HATE Speech. You will also publish postings on the topic on other social media platforms.
With their farewell to X, the organizations react to the increase in violent, discriminatory and disinforming content since Elon Musk's platform was taken over in October 2022. Elon Musk himself equates moderation with censorship. Under the guise of supposed freedom of expression, accounts that have already been blocked due to the spread of extremist content are unlocked again.
In a common statement, the 45 exit organizations comment on: »Hass, agitation, calls to violence, disinformation: Since the takeover by Elon Musk, all of this has been increasingly common to everyday manners on X. Extremism and democracy are increasingly determining the debates there. Many of this content are ignored by the operator. We want to oppose this brutalization of debate culture. We stand for a respectful, democratic exchange and appreciative communication. Therefore, we say #Byeelon and set our activities on the platform. «
According to a representative survey published in February [1], around half of the respondents stated that they had already noticed hatred on the Internet. About everyone's eighth was already affected by it himself. "Almost every second person has already been insulted online, a quarter of the respondents were threatened physical violence ," said the study authors.
Katja Diehl, bestseller author, mobility expert and podcasterin, had her experience with Hate Speech on Twitter in early 2023. As a result, she deleted her account. Diehl comments : »I know that many like to combine the 'poisoning' of Twitter with the character Elon Musk. But let's be honest: This platform has not already managed to adequately protect those affected by Hate Speech, let alone refer to their barriers. This tendency was nevertheless tightened by Musk in a way that makes it clear how wrong it is to give such platforms privately owned. Unfortunately, only the exit remains, because Twitter, now X, has become a disinformation and hate slingshot. I am therefore pleased that these organizations set an example on this symbolic day. "
The alliance partners discussed the farewell of the platform in numerous exchange rounds and also examined their work in other social networks. Against the background, the decision to exit was recognized by the fact that a special brutalization of the tone can be seen on X, as there is no other social media platform in this form. The strategic direction of the company shows that the way there is wanted or at least tolerated: According to EU information, there are now significantly fewer content moderators than with other platforms.
The exit organizations will not extinguish their accounts, but will shut down, otherwise there is a risk that their profiles will be hijacked. Some of the exit organizations have already shut down their X-Accounts in the past few months or deliberately shut down their activity there. A re-entry would only be conceivable for the Exit partners if moderation practice and debate culture on X should be based on democratic rules again.
The alliance "Exit" belongs to: Anu Hessen EV , Doctors of the World , AWO International , Baum - Network for Sustainable Business , Bergwaldprojekt EV , Bioland EV , BITS & TREATION , Bundes network Citizens' Engagement (BBE) , Changing Cities EV , Center for Planetary Health Policy , The Hunger Project , Demeter eV , German Alliance AV (KLUG) , German sustainability code , German Foundation World Population (DSW) , Difär worldwide , Don Bosco Mondo EV , EIRENTUNICAL CHRISTAL PEOSE Service EV , Engineers for Future , Development Policy Saxony EV , EURONATURE Foundation , EWS Elektrizitätswerke Schönau , Fairtrade Deutschland EV, Farmers for Future , Fian Deutschland eV , Community Sustainability , German Doctors EV , Germanwatch eV , Green Planet Energy , Greifswald Moor Centrum , Help-Help for self-help , IJM Deutschland eV , Kindenothilfe eV , Klimbelegation EV , LAG 21 NRW , Naturland , Naturstrom , Orover-The Tropenwald Foundation , Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation , Council for Sustainable Development , Racing Network , ( CIR) Hommes Germany , Urgewald eV , World Peace Service eV
The Terre des Hommes update on the situation of children worldwide and corresponding political recommendations can now be found on threads and mastodone .
[1] Competence network hate online: »Loud hatred - quiet retreat. How hate on the net threatens the democratic discourse «, February 2024, https://kompetenznetzwerk-hass-im-netz.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/studie_lauter-hass-leiser-rueckzug.pdf https://kompetenznetzwerk-hass-im-netz.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/studie_lauter-hass-leiser-rueckzug.pdf