The District of North Vancouver’s decision to deactivate its X (formerly Twitter) account and leave behind 13,000 followers has been a ‘talker,’ as we say in the news business.
Depending on who you ask, the district is either taking a provocative stance in an all-out culture war, or they are simply making an exit from one of its uglier battlefields.
The District’s CAO says that it was not a direct response to the latest behaviour of Elon Musk, the platform’s Donald Trump-adoring owner, but rather because of the racism and homophobia X users are free to post, which cannot not be reconciled with the district’s values of tolerance and inclusion. Some are conflating this with censorship. Others say every municipality should follow suit.
When it comes to real-time updates on things like road closures and emergency weather, X was probably the most useful platform, but the district’s own metrics show the tool was becoming less useful over time, with fewer real constituents to actually engage with.
In the meantime, the district recommends people turn to their other social media accounts including Facebook, a platform that actively does censor Canadian news sources while employing algorithms designed to spread misinformation and make us angrier, more mistrustful and more polarized than we already are.
Rather than be outraged about a municipality’s decision to use X or not, maybe we should save our indignation for what social media is doing to society writ large. All of us – left, right and centre – would do well with a little less antisocial influence in our lives.
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