BREMEN, Germany — The Bundesliga football club Werder Bremen has become the second team from the German top league to halt its postings on the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter. This decision comes in response to a marked increase in hate speech since Elon Musk took ownership of the platform.

The announcement was made following a club meeting on Monday, just after another Bundesliga team, St. Pauli, opted to shift its social media activity to the emerging platform Bluesky. Werder Bremen had amassed over 500,000 followers on its German-language channel on X, which it had joined back in May 2008.

In a statement released in English, the club expressed deep concerns regarding the rise of hate speech under the guise of free expression. They highlighted that posts promoting hatred towards minorities, right-wing extremism, and various conspiracy theories have proliferated on X at an alarming rate. Werder Bremen articulated that the recent escalation of radical content on the platform signifies that a crucial boundary has been crossed.

Additionally, the club’s announcement noted Musk’s use of the platform as a tool for political maneuvering, as referenced in a news release published on their website. Currently, Werder Bremen ranks eighth in the 18-team Bundesliga, with its last championship victory occurring in 2004.