Ever since Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022, a red carpet has been rolled out for far-right accounts to set up and thrive on the platform.
Donald Trump, whose account was suspended indefinitely over fears he would incite additional violence following the deadly storming of the US Capitol in 2021, saw his profile reinstated shortly after Musk rebranded the site ‘X’, while other divisive figures such as Andrew Tate and Tommy Robinson have enjoyed a hero’s return.
The consequences of this were there for all to see when hotels housing asylum seekers were set alight in the wake of the Southport Riots and shops were ransacked as the man who paid $44 billion to take over Twitter sent out the same jeering soundbite from the comfort of his home in California; “Civil war is inevitable”, “civil war is inevitable”, “civil war is inevitable”.
But vocal far-right individuals couldn’t have achieved this on their own. Recently, faceless, more sinister accounts have started infiltrating people’s timelines with the sort of vitriolic hate that only ever sees the light of day when there is no fear of retribution.
Inevitable West is one such offender, racking up millions of views by posting videos of last week’s clashes in Amsterdam, which it claims were orchestrated by “anti-Israel Muslims” even though not a shred of evidence exists to support that narrative.
The account has also posted warnings about a “socialist new world order” citing a “bombshell report” showing illegal migrants in Britain are receiving private healthcare while British cancer patients get “put on 3-year waiting lists”. The post does not refer to the actual report.
Even the below tweet managed to garner 3.7 million views even though it concerns something that never actually happened:
It is for reasons like that, among others, that the Guardian announced this week it will no longer post on X.
In their words:
“We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere.
“This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.
“The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.”
Others will surely follow suit, with Bluesky adding a million users to its platform since the US election and X usage in the US slumping by more than a fifth.
Soon, the platform will be little more than a far-right echo chamber, leaving what few remaining users it has left to decide whether to embrace the hate or walk away.
Related: How Musk used X to get Trump elected – and then cashed in on the result