“SV Werder Bremen’s executive board have decided that the club will leave the social media platform ‘X’ (formerly Twitter). The announcement was made by Klaus Filbry, CEO of SV Werder, during the club’s annual general meeting on Monday.” the club said in a statement posted on its website.
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— SV Werder Bremen EN (@werderbremen_en) November 18, 2024
“Since Elon Musk took over the platform, hate speech, hatred towards minorities, right-wing extremist posts and conspiracy theories have been allowed to spread at an incredible pace, all under the guise of freedom of speech. The radicalisation of the platform is being actively driven by Elon Musk and his personal posts, which include transphobic and antisemitic comments, as well as the spreading of conspiracy narratives.” the statement continued.
“Next to nothing is currently being monitored on the platform. The algorithms and decision making at X are entirely non-transparent processes. Additionally, Elon Musk is utilising the social network as a political weapon, as seen recently during the course of the US election. SV Werder Bremen are taking a clear stance against hatred, hate speech, discrimination and exclusion. The Green-Whites are proud to stand for diversity, freedom and democracy, as well as for cohesion and solidarity in society. With the recent radicalisation of the platform, a line has been crossed for the club. The Green-Whites are therefore leaving X effective immediately and hope that our more than 600,000 followers will follow the club on Bluesky in the future.” the statement concluded.
Werder Bremen are currently part of Germany’s top flight football league, Bundesliga. The club has been German champions four times and holds the record of most appearances in Bundesliga along with Bayern Munich.
Last week American author Stephen King also exited X stating that the platform had become “too toxic”.
First Published: Nov 19, 2024 4:05 PM IST
