I'm Leaving Twitter..

Twitter, or “X” as it is now called (by no one), is unrecognizable today. Over the years, I have contributed with more than 17,000 tweets mainly about chess, and I was among the first #Chesspunks, a community that grew thanks to the platform. For me, Twitter was more than a digital space, it was a shared community of ideas, support, and connection. I wouldn’t have published my first chess book or started this newsletter if not it was for the community I met on this platform. But Elon Musk has, in my view, damaged the platform beyond repair.

I tried, initially, to ignore the changes, focusing on the chess community. Yet, increasingly, my feed is filled with violence and politically charged rhetoric, pushing the limits of what I can simply scroll past. Even the option to control what I see and to focus solely on those I follow is now a temporary setting, reverted each other day as if to remind me that my choices are secondary to the algorithm.

The muting of outside links and news that once made visiting Twitter interesting have been substituted with brain-rotting content. The algorithm simply discourages engagement with ideas that come from outside Twitter by not sharing this type of content to other users. This lowers the quality of time spent on Twitter a lot, at least for me.

What tipped the scales for me, however, was Musk’s transformation of Twitter into what feels like a mouthpiece for Donald Trump and boosting conspiracies theories. The steady stream of charged political propaganda content in my feed makes me feel sad about the future.

So, the time has come to leave or at least take a prolonged break until positive change happens (if not twitter will slowly die out). It is not easy for me since Twitter once offered a unique space for the chess community and the #Chesspunks and I will miss following the good people staying to the bitter end. However, Musk seems more intent on shaping Twitter’s users opinions than on serving them.

The benefits have dwindled, and I feel like it is time walk away, because my principles are undermined little by little each time I open the app.

/Martin