Spain's Vanguardia daily to stop posting on 'disinformation network' X / Photo: © AFP
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Spain's Vanguardia daily to stop posting on 'disinformation network' X
Spain's La Vanguardia on Thursday became the latest newspaper to say it would cease publishing its reports on Elon Musk's social media platform X, saying it would rather lose subscribers than stay on a "disinformation network".
The decision by one of Spain's oldest and most prestigious titles comes a day after Britain's The Guardian also said it would stop promoting its journalism on X, citing "often disturbing content" on the site.
La Vanguardia wrote in an editorial that X, formerly Twitter, had become "an echo chamber" full of "conspiracy theories and disinformation" that would have had less impact with "effective and reasonable moderation".
Musk has gutted trust and safety teams, scaled back content moderation efforts and restored known conspiracy theorists to the platform since purchasing it for $44 billion in 2022.
"Hatred of ethnic minorities, misogyny and racism" were among the viral posts "that violate human rights" but captured users' attention and more money through advertising, the newspaper added.
La Vanguardia also denounced the growth of bots spreading disinformation, including India-based accounts commenting on Spain's devastating October floods that have killed 224 people.
Its director Jordi Juan told AFP the move "will have repercussions... we are going to lose audience, we are probably going to lose subscriptions".
But "in this battle for rigorous and serious information and for the reputation of our brand, it is more important not to be there," he added.
The Catalan daily said it would continue following people, businesses and institutions on X to inform readers.
Its journalists will also be free to keep using it "within the guidelines of restraint and respect for human rights and freedom of expression" required of them in all settings.
Musk has consistently courted controversy with his use of X, particularly during the recent US presidential election when he endorsed victorious Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Musk used his personal account boasting nearly 205 million followers to sway voters in favour of Trump, but his incendiary and misleading posts were criticised for cranking up the political temperature.
S.Keller--BTB