Elton John quits Twitter citing ‘misinformation’ as anti-LGBTQ+ hate surges
Elton John (Getty)
Elton John has reportedly had enough of Twitter following a recent change in policy, becoming yet another celebrity to stop using the platform.
The singer-songwriter posted a tweet on Friday (9 December) outlining his decision to stop using the social media site following its acquisition by Elon Musk.
“All my life, I’ve tried to use music to bring people together,” John wrote. “Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world.
“I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked.”
Last month, Twitter announced it would stop enforcing its policy on misleading information surrounding COVID-19.
The company said it would operate under a “five-strike system” for those spreading “demonstrably false or misleading” assertions about the disease.
Following the policy change, several accounts that were previously blocked for pushing such misleading information have begun returning to the site.
Elton John’s decision to leave the platform has mirrored several other users, including notable names, who have vowed to stop posting until a policy change is in place.
Celebrities including Jim Carrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jameela Jamil also left the platform after Musk’s acquisition of Twitter on 27 October.
Others who remain on the site couldn’t blame the Rocket Man singer for his decision, with some saying: “Sir Elton John has, understandably, left the burning building.”
“So Twitter 2.0 won’t have Elton John, but it will have people trying to get children’s hospitals bombed,” another user wrote.
Of course, there was also a predictable mountain of replies pushing the exact kind of misinformation that prompted the pop star to drop the platform.
Others simply began baselessly berating John either for his age, his sexuality, or his music – which has collectively sold more than 300 million records worldwide.
Elon Musk responds to Elton John’s tweet
In response to the tweet, Musk wrote that he loves Elton John’s music and that he hoped the superstar would come back, while also asking what type of misinformation he was “concerned about.”
In response to a comment claiming that the tweet was posted by a “newly minted Marxist” social media manager “with brain damage,” Musk replied: “It’s true that most celebrities don’t write their own posts.”
Users were bewildered by Musk’s reply, with one writing: “You really don’t get it, do you?
“This is serious s**t to millions of people. Anti-semitism, racism, COVID-19 [misinformation], hate speak, rhetoric that incites violence. You opened the cage doors and let the offenders back in.”
Additionally, voice actress Tara Strong asserted that “literally every celebrity I know does their own tweets.”
A recent report from the New York Times found that hate speech against LGBTQ+ minorities surged on Twitter after Musk acquired the platform.
It found that anti-LGBTQ+ remarks had risen by at least 1,458 times a day, despite the Twitter owner’s claim that it had gone down.
