Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia leaves X, calls it a “platform for conspiracy theories and misinformation”

Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia has announced that it will no longer publish tweets directly on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, and will suspend its accounts.

In a statement on its official website on Thursday, the Spanish newspaper said, “La Vanguardia will stop publishing tweets directly on social network X and will suspend its accounts. This social network has become a platform for conspiracy theories and misinformation, ideas that have a way of multiplying their reach in what was once Twitter, which they would not have if it had effective and reasonable moderation.”

“This newspaper notes that ideas that violate human rights, such as hatred of ethnic minorities, misogyny and racism, are part of the viral content distributed on X, where they become viral and capture more user time in order to earn more money from advertising inserts,” the statement added.

In addition to the decision to stop publishing on X, this newspaper said that it will continue to monitor people, entities, companies and institutions on this network to promptly inform its readers of messages and debates that may occur on it.

Notably, the newspaper said that its decision comes as Donald Trump announced he would name Elon Musk and former Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aimed at cutting back on US government spending.

The decision by the Spanish newspaper comes after British news publisher The Guardian on Wednesday said that it is quitting the X, citing billionaire owner Elon Musk’s influence during the US presidential election process. The Guardian in a statement said that the publication said it will no longer post from any official Guardian accounts on the site. Further, it said that the recent US election underlined its view that X is a “toxic” platform and that Musk uses it to influence politics.

Last year, the US media organisation National Public Radio [NPR], stopped posting on X after the social media platform labelled it as “state-affiliated media.”

PBS, a US public TV broadcaster, also suspended its posts for the same reason.

Meanwhile, after the 2024 United States Presidential election that confirmed Trump’s victory, social media platform X witnessed its largest user exodus since Elon Musk acquired it in 2022, with users migrating to alternatives like Bluesky, CNN reported.

More than 1,15,000 US users deactivated their X accounts the day after the election, and this figure only includes those who deactivated through the website, excluding mobile app users, CNN reported citing a report from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

This shift follows Musk’s influential role in the US presidential election. Bluesky’s user base has doubled in 90 days, reaching 15 million after gaining 1 million new sign-ups in a single week