Erik Moeller

The German eXit from Musk's hate platform is real and ongoing.

I'm seeing accounts for newspapers, courts, libraries, radio stations, cities, nonprofits, etc. getting shut down permanently or moved into maintenance mode. This is all very organic, e.g., the city of Cologne had a vote on withdrawal from X:

https://ratsinformation.stadt-koeln.de/getfile.asp?id=956920&type=do

I can barely keep up. Many of these accounts are now on the fediverse. The ones I've tracked so far are in the eXit spreadsheet:

https://bit.ly/eXit

Nov 11, 2023 at 11:16pmWeb
Show threadErik MoellerNov 11, 2023

I'm not seeing a similar domino effect in the US yet, but the complete eXit of the Trevor Project (not active here yet) and the partial eXit of @indivisibleteam could set the stage for more large accounts to follow.

As the Trevor Project noted, X is not a safe platform. Orgs posting on X risk exposing constituents to harm. By stack-ranking paying accounts above everyone else, Musk has worsened abusive behavior, because abusive accounts can pay to amplify their abuse in everyone's timelines.

Show threadErik MoellerNov 11, 2023

It's easy to feel powerless. "Well, what can _I_ do to make things better?"

One simple thing we all can do is help accelerate the demise of X before Musk fully weaponizes it for fascism, hate and abuse.

Please speak up in your organizations, your communities, your networks, and help folks get off X completely.

There's a reverse network effect. Every person or org shutting down their account makes it easier for the next person or org to do the same.

Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Nov 11, 2023

@eloquence

> Musk has worsened abusive behavior, because abusive accounts can pay to amplify their abuse in everyone's timelines.

It is considerably worse, in fact. Ex-Twitter subscribers not only get promoted ahead of non-paid accounts, but also they get paid by ex-Twitter for any posts of theirs that get a lot of engagement.

In other words, there are strong incentives to post the worst, most emotionally triggering stuff possible, as that gets engagement, which means pay outs.

Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Nov 11, 2023

@eloquence so if you're a fact-checking org, you presumably don't pay for the account, spend hours researching stuff before you post, your posts are not amplified as much, and you don't get paid.

If you're a misinfo/disinfo peddler, for a few dollars/month you can churn out a lot of posts, A/B test what "bites" the most quickly, find the golden formula of the day, have your posts amplified, and *actually get paid* for your trouble.

It's obscene.

Show threadJonah SteinNov 12, 2023
@rysiek @eloquence but at least it is relatively transparent. Nothing about what drives engagement is different but at least now no one thinks they are in it for the LULs
Show threadCitizenZNov 12, 2023
@eloquence i have a theory that musk/jack set this deal up in order to conceal/destroy evidence that Twitter actively engaged in election interference. They had to take the company private. Now, thats not the only reason, but i think thats why it was done when it was done.
Show threadMaggie MaybeNov 14, 2023

@eloquence oh I’m excited for when I renew my USAA auto policy and they tell me my premium has gone up again because of inflation. I can’t wait to rip into them for being willing to pay $1000 a month for a gold checkmark on Twitter then trying to pass that cost on to me. Nope. Two years ago I enjoyed ripping into them for advertising on Fox News after the insurrection. The rep I talked to was cool. She was like “yeah we are on a recorded line so I can’t voice my opinions, but preach.”

BTW, it’s ALWAYS appropriate to deadname that shithole Nazi platform.
#twitter

Show threadErik MoellerNov 15, 2023

@maggiemaybe

Re: "deadnaming" X, I know, but I'm intentionally going along with the rename. Folks who are attached to Twitter need to realize it's well and truly dead.

To quote Ghostbusters: "There is no Dana, only Zuul" - there is no Twitter, only the awful hate site called X. If Musk wants to piss away all the goodwill that's accreted to the brand he bought for $44B, I say, let him. :)

Show threadblurtlingNov 12, 2023
@eloquence wow. this is fantastic news.
Show threadCapulbroNov 12, 2023
@eloquence find ich super von der Stadt Köln
Show threadCh M[ae][iy]e?r 🇪🇺 🤍 🇬🇱Nov 12, 2023
@eloquence
Why do you use bit.ly to hide the real URL?
I never had clicked on it, when I knew this one is leading to Google docs.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1p5crRGK0Y9MuFsfkyOBEC--3wXxFTd71fPCUcIFPXK0/htmlview#gid=0
bit.ly/eXit — Organizations and individuals who have left X (and where they've gone) - Google Drive

Show threadErik MoellerNov 12, 2023

@chbmeyer

The only point is to offer a URL that people can easily remember, something that sticks in your brain so you can easily recall it later without having to dig in your browser history.

(Edit: I've also found it useful when switching devices, because it's quick to type.)

Show threadStahlbrandtNov 12, 2023
@eloquence @chbmeyer very good project, thanks for doing this! I did not open the shared doc though since it is hosted on google.
Show threadCh M[ae][iy]e?r 🇪🇺 🤍 🇬🇱Nov 12, 2023

@eloquence thank you for your explanation. That sounds rationale.

But I'm going with @stahlbrandt :
Google docs is nothing I want to use. So, it's just my decission and it's totaly okay for me when you want to use it. I just will not click on it.
Sadly that is not possible when hiding the URL / Domain.

I thought you just did not know that an Mastodon every link 'costs' 23 characters, independent from how long the real lenght is.

Anyway.
You had a good intention, and collecting this list is good, too.
Thank you for your explanation.

Show threadkatzenbergerNov 12, 2023

@eloquence

Good to see such a list, but please do not use link shorteners here. Probably not your intent to camouflage a link to Google Docs, still an unpleasant surprise.
@chbmeyer

Show threadErik MoellerNov 12, 2023

@katzenberger

As I mentioned in the thread, I mostly disagree -- I use shorteners to offer easy mnemonics that work across devices and that are useful for folks who may not be very versatile at fishing things out of their browser history.

I do hear you on the "surprising link target" concern. I've sometimes offered both links alongside each other for that reason. At minimum, I'll put "(GDoc)" or similar in parentheses next to it.

Show threadHarryNov 12, 2023
@eloquence @gunchleoc X/Twitter is in the past. Mastodon is the future of social news and discussions.
Show threadRixt LotheinNov 12, 2023
@eloquence Is anybody going to tell the #dutchgovernment to do the same, please?!
Show threadErik MoellerNov 12, 2023

@Truucoo

It could be you. ;-) To their credit, they're one of two governments I know of (Germany and Netherlands) with official Mastodon servers (https://social.overheid.nl/), alongside the EU's Mastodon server.

social.overheid.nl - Mastodon Overheid

Berichten van de overheid. Voor iedereen.

Mastodon hosted on social.overheid.nl
Show threadRixt LotheinNov 12, 2023
@eloquence That may be true, but many indivual members of #parlement are #X-ing themselves to death.
Show threadErik MoellerNov 12, 2023

@Truucoo

There are two groups everywhere who are still addicted to X: journalists and politicians. What they have in common is a belief that they need to be "where the people are", so they're slow to move.

So far I've found two Dutch politicians who've left X -- Senna Maatoug and Lisa van Ginneken. If you find others, please let me know!

Show threadjd 🔆 Account moved March 22 2026 to ottawa.placeNov 12, 2023
@eloquence
@jeffjarvis
Show threadTino EberlNov 12, 2023

@eloquence

Me too. I moved when Mr. M. started the takeover and left, after he finished. 😱

Show threadJörgi (chaos.social)Nov 12, 2023
@eloquence or they are on bluesky
Show threadqwazixNov 13, 2023

It makes me happy to see that most move to the fedi, and it also makes me a little sad because it's fast becoming something more than "my corner of the internet".

Being in a well guarded instance staves the twitterification of my timeline off a little, but I see more and more posts that resemble the twitter culture.

Anyway, just venting here, don't take it too seriously, I know it's a net good.

(re @eloquence's post about the twitter/X exit)

Show threadBenjamin Kwiecień 🇵🇸Nov 13, 2023
@qwazix @eloquence don't worry; there will always be something more obscure out there
Show threadDecker harrisonNov 14, 2023
@eloquence
I gave up when my posts kept being deleted and all my likes were SlapperBots 🤣🤣.