FC St. Pauli leaves the short message service X

St. Pauli said "goodbye" to X last Thursday: Why the club is leaving the short message service

FC St. Pauli has made a bold decision: The Bundesliga club is saying goodbye to the platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The club had been active there since 2013 and had 250,000 followers until recently. However, according to the club, owner Elon Musk had turned the former debate platform into a hate machine that could influence the German parliamentary election campaign. FC St. Pauli is now pulling the ripcord and leaving X - a strong signal against hate and agitation online.

Reasons for St. Pauli's X-exit

FC St. Pauli announced: Since Elon Musk took over the platform, the former Twitter had become a platform that promotes hatred and racism. Conspiracy theories and insults spread unhindered, while sanctions against such content are hardly enforced. Musk sells this as freedom of expression, but the reality is different: X has become a place where misanthropic and right-wing extremist content flourishes, he says.

FC. St. Pauli gives further reasons for his departure from the short message platform. Following his election victory, Donald Trump announced that he would make Musk the head of a newly created government efficiency agency. Musk had already supported Trump during the election campaign, including through the use of X. It is to be expected that X will also promote authoritarian and right-wing extremist content during the general election campaign, which could have a massive impact on public discourse.

FC St. Pauli wants to set an example

FC St. Pauli has already restricted the use of X and primarily posted political statements in favor of diversity and inclusion. In doing so, the club has consciously taken a stand against what it sees as worshipful hatred on the platform. But now the club is going one step further and ending its activities on X completely. The account will no longer be used, although the content from the past eleven years will remain online in order to preserve its historical value.

The club thanks its members for the critical exchange on the use of X and calls on its followers to switch to BlueSky, an X alternative. FC St. Pauli's English account will also soon be active on BlueSky.

What does this mean for the future?

The withdrawal of FC St. Pauli from X is a signal. It shows that clubs and organizations can take responsibility and take a stand against the spread of hate and agitation. The move could encourage others to also take a stand against hatred and hate speech. It is an appeal from the club to society to stand up for respectful and inclusive coexistence - both online and offline.

Other clubs follow suit

In addition to FC St. Pauli, two other clubs from the first and third Bundesliga have declared their withdrawal from the X platform. First division club SV Werder Bremen announced on its own website that it had left the social media platform X because, since the takeover by the tech billionaire and under the guise of freedom of expression, the platform has become a breeding ground for hate speech, hatred against minorities, right-wing extremist posts and conspiracy theories. The association is also concerned that the radicalization of X is being driven by the owner Musk himself. Among other things, he made transphobic and anti-Semitic comments and spread conspiracy theories. The club also criticized the "complete lack of transparency" of the platform's control system and algorithms. SV Werder also accuses Elon Musk of misusing the network as a political weapon, as was recently the case in the US election campaign.

Third division club Hansa Rostock has also announced its withdrawal from X - with a clear "We're out!". However, FCH has other reasons, as a spokesperson for the club explained to Deutsche Presse-Agentur: "We have been thinking about ending the channel for some time and instead focusing on our other channels, which are better received and offer a greater reach."

Conclusion

The decision is intended to send a signal against the brutalization of digital discourse and shows that even large organizations can take responsibility. At the same time, however, the question arises as to whether the withdrawal of platforms such as X is the only possible response. Shouldn't the focus instead be on reforming and regulating these platforms in order to effectively counter hate and hate speech of all kinds? FC St. Pauli's move is a remarkable one, but the discussion about how to deal with hate online remains open. It remains to be seen how other clubs and organizations will position themselves and how the platform operators will react to these developments.