Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz has said she will stop using social media platform X after the behavior of its owner Elon Musk at the inauguration of United States President Donald Trump on Monday.
Diaz, who is also minister of labor and social economy and has 638,000 followers on X, said she will no longer use the platform for personal and political posts, and that other members of her left-wing Sumar party would follow suit, although a spokesperson for the Spanish government said her decision was personal, and that it would continue to use various communication channels.
Musk, who has been appointed by Trump to head the new US department of government efficiency, was widely criticized for making a stiff arm gesture that many people compared to a Nazi salute during a speech at the inauguration.
He has also caused upset in several European countries with comments he has made about their politics, and his support of right-wing parties.
"I made this decision, which I know is complicated, but I will not be part of a social network based on the use of algorithms that encourage xenophobic ideas, against human rights and encourage the extreme right in the world," Diaz told Spanish state broadcaster TVE.
She added that her decision had been provoked not only by Musk's behavior in Washington but also the "absolutely convoluted speeches he is making".
Musk bought the messaging service that was previously known as Twitter in October 2022 but in recent years, as he has become more politically outspoken and active, an increasing number of users have expressed concern about the nature of its content, its reliability, and the use of algorithms to spread selected posts.
In November 2024, shortly after Trump's election win and his confirmation of Musk's new role, United Kingdom newspaper The Guardian announced it was leaving X, saying "the benefits … are now outweighed by the negatives", in particular citing "the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism".
In January, Germany's central bank announced it was discontinuing its use of X, and the Federal Foreign Office and Federal Ministry of Defense said they would use alternative channels for public communications, with the latter telling Bloomberg it had become increasingly "unhappy" with the platform.
The day after the inauguration, the widely-respected French newspaper Le Monde announced that it too was leaving X, despite having 11 million followers for its French language account, and would advise its journalists to do the same. It also commented on "worrying statements" by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the company that owns Facebook.
In an editorial published in French and English, Le Monde's editor-in-chief, Jerome Fenoglio, said Musk and Zuckerberg's closeness to Trump was "a global threat to free access to reliable information".
"(Musk) has transformed (X) into an extension of his political cause, a form of libertarianism increasingly close to the far right," the editorial continued. "He has turned it into an instrument of the pressure he wants to put on his competitors or on Europe's social-democrat governments."
