10 reasons you should leave X and Meta as soon as possible

As someone who's worked in comms most of my professional life, and as someone with a brain in risk analysis mode 24/7, what's happening right now in social media tech is so epic and deeply concerning that I've caught myself on multiple occasions just... not breathing. I have to remind myself, "in, and out". What makes it even more anxiety-inducing is that at best, everyone seems to be unaware of what's happening, or at worst, people are willingly ignoring it (actually "worst" would be embracing it). So I've compiled some information that I hope will help people choose to leave.

The bait-and-switch model of social media is now firmly in its "switch" phase. The "bait" phase was two decades of community building and establishing trust, and now that those communities, individuals, businesses and institutions are locked into the platforms (and the data industries orbiting around them), the "switch" is coming hard and fast, and it's more diabolical than most of us ever imagined. 

Some may have thought this "switch" happened long ago as advertising revenue and data monetization were introduced to the social platforms (a breakdown of Facebook's business model evolution is here, which most other platforms loosely mirror). We all knew the platforms would ultimately prioritize profit, and we were told monetization was the only way they could continue serving us their high-quality user experiences. We all accepted this trade for the services the platforms offered. Benefits of those services included community organizing, event management, cause amplification, scaleable marketing and brand promotion, information sharing, networking, and of course "staying connected" to friends and family. The golden era of 2010s social media is something I often reflect on with both nostalgia and grief. It truly was a beautiful time. It's over.

There are many reasons to leave both Meta and X right now, but here are ten, all pulled from the past couple months. I'll link out to sources, but these are not "fringe" reports—each story has been covered multiple times across outlets.

Let's start with X:

1. Musk suspends and silences journalists on X (as well as anyone else who opposes him).

The exact opposite of "free speech", this is capital "F" Fascism suppressing media and controlling narratives.

And thanks to his interference in the 2024 US Elections we also know that Musk has no qualms tweaking UX and trending topics according to his whims.

This was the primary catalyst that motivated millions to leave X in favour of Bluesky (now at 27 million users), an open source social media platform that introduced customizable feeds and has pledged that when ads are eventually added to the platform, they won't disrupt the UX. Bluesky is also registered as a Public Benefit Corporation, which means they prioritize the public good over profits—the first and only social media platform to embrace such a model. Anthropic, a competitor to OpenAI that prioritizes AI safety, is another such corporation.

2. Musk's Grok, part of his xAI project, is gathering people's sensitive medical data. 

Musk also now owns an AI data centre that houses "The Colossus Supercomputer", in case an AI program called "Grok" wasn't already cartoon villain-esque enough.

3. Musk's Xmail plans pose security threats to billions of gmail users.

As explained by the author: "AI-generated phishing has now reached a point where it is not only very good at creating realistic scam messaging but is also cheap enough to be the weapon of choice for cybercriminals in the business of scamming people out of account credentials and cash. I expect both to be leveraged in the coming months if there continues to be speculation about the new email service. Gmail users are at risk as they are the main demographic when it comes to likely interested users and will probably find themselves tempted by invitations to sign up to early Xmail beta access or provided with tools for making the switch to the non-existent service easy by entering Gmail login details to transfer all messages across. The message is simple: Xmail doesn’t exist yet, the phishing threat does. Be careful out there, folks."

4. Musk is cozy with Germany's far-right party leader and is sowing blatantly inaccurate information.

He is also targeting countries abroad with his far-right agenda. The international threat he poses is so real that German institutions are leaving X, and Musk's posts are being monitored by UK Homeland Security.

Friends, are you convinced yet? No? Okay there's more.

5. Musk is trying to assert influence over the upcoming Canadian Federal Elections.

"Since Trudeau’s resignation on Monday, Musk has posted repeatedly about Canadian politics on X... He has praised clips of Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s Conservative party, while relishing in Trudeau’s downfall and engaging with rightwing Canadian influencers."

And unsurprisingly, Poilievre is into it.

6. Musk is attacking DEI initiatives (along with most of the American tech industry, because incels with billions are terrifying).

Not to mention trolling a city while it literally burned. 

Those are only a few of the many problems Musk/X pose not just to data security, free speech, and marginalized populations, but to the free world. If you haven't left X yet, do it now. 

And if you work for a business or organization that doesn't see the harm in staying on X, show them this post please.

And if these don't convince you, just search any recent articles about Musk and I guarantee you will find fresh new horrors.

Now let's do Meta.

7. Meta is about to flood platforms with AI accounts, more AI content slop, and plans to generally dominate Facebook and Instagram with AI.

Instagram has even begun showing users randomly generated AI images of themselves. It might be fair to say that our privacy and a trustworthy UX are no longer top priorities for Meta.

Bots currently account for nearly half of all internet traffic globally. If you've never seen Fake Famous, you should watch it. Not just for context on influencer culture, but for a look at the entire billion-dollar industry built on non-human engagement. A bubble many shareholders really don't want to burst.

8. Meta has terminated its DEI programs.

Days before Trump's inauguration, and along with many other major corporations like McDonalds and Walmart, Meta is rolling back its DEI programs. 

Meta staff are reeling and many users have already left Meta's platforms in protest.

 

9. Zuckerberg is embracing MAGA.

He isn't just abandoning DEI programs, he's embracing the far-right, along with Musk and others in Big Tech. 

Tech giants who have so far pledged fealty to Trump through donations to Trump's inauguration include Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple. Tech appears to enjoy the company of Fascism, I wonder why.

10. And finally, Apple complains that requests from Meta Platforms for access to its operating software threaten user privacy.

"If those requests were granted, “Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp could enable Meta to read on a user’s device all of their messages and emails, see every phone call they make or receive, track every app that they use, scan all of their photos, look at their files and calendar events, log all of their passwords,” the company said in a report."

Friends, I don't know how else to make this clear: it is time to divest from these spaces. If you can't close your accounts today, start working on an exit strategy.

My next post will focus on Meta exit strategies. I'm currently in the process of untangling myself, and for someone who has spent 20 years using its tools and services, the process is fairly involved. But while I work on it, I will keep amplifying the importance of leaving as well as I can. It doesn't make sense to me to just leave and not provide resources to others who feel trapped. I want to help before I go.