A German football club is leaving X due to increasing hate speech and misinformation on the social media platform that it says could harm the country’s early elections.
FC St. Pauli announced the move on Thursday, saying billionaire owner Elon Musk had turned the platform into a “hate machine” since taking over the company in 2022.
“Racism and conspiracy theories can spread in an uncontrolled and even organized way,” St. Pauli said in a statement. “Insults and threats are rarely punished and are sold as freedom of expression. »
The club said it had already limited posts about X and increased “political statements in support of diversity and inclusion to take a stand against hate.”
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Named after the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, the club, which plays in the Bundesliga, is known among football fans for its left-wing supporter base. Fan groups often chant anti-racist slogans and promote diversity within the club.
St. Pauli also highlighted Musk’s role during last week’s US presidential election, and claimed his agenda could affect the outcome of Germany’s snap elections, due to take place next February, by “manipulating public discourse”.
“Musk was a major supporter of the Trump campaign and also used X for this purpose,” the club said. “It must be assumed that X will also promote authoritarian, misanthropic and far-right content in the upcoming German election campaign.”
St. Pauli said he would no longer share content on X but would not deactivate the account. The club urged its supporters to follow its updates on Blue skyan alternative social media platform that saw a surge of new members following President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory last week.
Musk was a key figure in Trump’s third election campaign, donating millions of dollars and promoting his message about X. Trump announced this week that he will be part of the cost-cutting Department of Government Effectiveness, alongside fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who sought the Republican Party nomination.
On November 6, Germany’s coalition government collapsed after Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired the finance minister, who represented the business-friendly Liberal Democratic Party. The chancellor will seek a vote of confidence in the German Bundestag in December.
Saint-Pauli aims to migrate its nearly 250,000 supporters ahead of Germany’s February snap elections in which the center-right opposition Christian Democratic Union is expected to make significant gains.
The far-right Alternative for Germany party has also gained popularity. With 76 seats, it is the fifth largest party in the Bundestag. In Thuringia’s regional elections in September, the AfD became the first far-right party in Germany to win an election since World War II.