Halifax council is being asked to consider not using the social media platform X because it goes against “municipal values,” says one councillor.
Halifax Regional Municipality has used the social media platform, previously known as Twitter, to share updates on municipal topics since 2010.
But Coun. Laura White has submitted a motion requesting city staff determine the feasibility of ending its activity on the platform.
“In the past two-plus years since Elon Musk acquired Twitter (now X) the platform has become less congenial, informative and useful, and more toxic,” the motion reads.
“With Musk now a ‘special government employee’ of the Trump administration, it is very clear that platform goes against our municipal values of evidence-based decision making and diversity, equity, inclusion & accessibility, to name a few. X is no longer a medium that many reputable organizations are comfortable associating with.”
Council will be debating the motion on Tuesday’s meeting. White declined an interview on Monday, but said she would speak about the issue after council has addressed her motion.
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Digital anthropologist Giles Crouch says lack of moderation since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company has caused many users to leave.
“When moderation stopped and he opened it up to anyone can say whatever they want, all the people who were trolls, nasty people in other places, all of a sudden they had a public sphere,” he said.
“And they felt their ideologies could be expressed much more easily.”
That kind of environment is what led Halifax-based advocate Liz LeClair to leave the platform. LeClair, who speaks out on gender-based violence issues, says she was facing continued harassment.
“I would have men — I’m assuming men, mostly; they looked like men — on the platform, writing things like ‘your body, my choice,’ all things like wanting to assault, rape women, and none of it was being taken down,” she said.
“I couldn’t block people on the platform anymore.”
Crouch says he isn’t surprised there’s a formal attempt for the city to leave X, but believes it may still be a bit premature.
“A lot of people in Halifax still use X. Twitter is still a very popular platform,” he said.
“That might change if it goes on the current trajectory. Then I’d say maybe in six months or a year there won’t be enough of an audience on there that it’d be worth posting on that channel. But right now, it’s still a very popular channel.”
White’s motion asks that staff not only look at the feasibility of leaving X, but also come up with alternative methods of communicating with residents should they chose not to use the platform.
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