German Bundesliga soccer club FC St. Pauli has become the first European top-flight team to quit the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, citing concerns over the platform’s shift under Elon Musk’s ownership.
In a statement, the Bundesliga club said Musk has “converted X into a hate machine” since taking over the platform in 2022. St. Pauli accused the billionaire of allowing “racism and conspiracy theories” to spread unchecked, while “insults and threats are seldom sanctioned.”
The club also expressed concern that X would be used to “promote authoritarian, misanthropic and far-right content” during upcoming German elections, “manipulating public discourse.”
St. Pauli had already scaled back its X presence, using the platform mainly to make political statements supporting diversity. Now, the club said it is ceasing all activity on X, though its content from the past 11 years will remain online.
The announcement makes St. Pauli the first team from Europe’s top five leagues to quit the platform under Musk’s leadership. The club urged its followers to switch to the alternative platform Bluesky.
Musk purchased X, then Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022, pledging to promote “free speech.” However, his tenure has been marked by layoffs, the reinstatement of banned accounts, and the proliferation of misinformation, angering many users and advertisers.
