German soccer club St. Pauli announced its decision to withdraw from the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, citing concerns over the platform’s transformation into what they describe as a “hate machine.” This move is particularly significant ahead of Germany’s upcoming elections, as the club believes the environment cultivated by the platform could have a detrimental impact on political discourse.
In a statement released on Thursday, the left-oriented Bundesliga team from Hamburg urged its 250,000 followers to migrate to Bluesky, a competing social network that has gained support from former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. St. Pauli expressed that the ownership under Elon Musk has exacerbated hateful rhetoric, stating that the platform has shifted from a space for meaningful discussion to a breeding ground for abuse and malign ideologies. This transformation since Musk’s takeover has allegedly allowed racism and conspiracy theories to spread without constraint, with little moderation applied to harmful speech.
The club’s announcement was visually accompanied by an image of a sticker depicting a fist crushing a swastika, reinforcing its branding against far-right ideologies. St. Pauli underscored Musk’s previous backing of Donald Trump and raised alarms that similar authoritarian and extremist content could permeate the discourse during the upcoming German federal elections.
Amidst this political backdrop, Germany anticipates early parliamentary elections on February 23, following Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s recent dismissal of Finance Minister Christian Lindner, which led to a breakdown in the coalition among three political factions.
St. Pauli stands out as the initial top-tier German football club to sever ties with X since the U.S. election results. Additionally, the British publication The Guardian has also decided to halt its content sharing on the platform, deeming it a “toxic media platform.”
On a related note, Bluesky recently reported a significant increase in its user base, now boasting around 15 million users since rising from approximately 13 million at the end of October. St. Pauli intends to preserve the content it has shared over the past 11 years on X, highlighting its historical significance, while committing not to generate any new posts on the platform.