Another Bundesliga have quit X and taken aim at Elon Musk’s handling of the platform formerly known as Twitter.
X is now run by billionaire Musk, who purchased the site for around £38.26billion from founder Jack Dorsey, who helped build the site in 2006, back in October 2022.
Musk has made a number of changes to the platform, from changing the verification process to altering the name itself and ditching the bird-theme of the site that had previously been in place.
But critics have been vocal regarding his work, which was highlighted when he endorsed Donald Trump to be president of the United States once again.
Bundesliga club St Pauli became the first club from Germany to quit the social media site earlier this month, releasing a statement on their club website that they had deflected to Bluesky.
Now, fellow German top flight side Werder Bremen, formerly the side of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, have also announced their exit while slamming Musk.
Another Bundesliga club have announced that they are leaving X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter
Werder Bremen revealed on Monday that they have now left the site, deflecting to Bluesky
They took aim at the handling of the site from Elon Musk, who purchased it for £38bn in 2022
‘The management of SV Werder Bremen has made the decision that the Green-Whites will leave the social media platform X (formerly Twitter),’ their statement began. ‘Klaus Filbry, Chairman of the Management Board, announced this on Monday during the general meeting.
‘Since Elon Musk took over the platform, hate speech, hatred against minorities, right-wing extremist posts and conspiracy theories have increased at an incredible pace under the guise of freedom of expression. The radicalisation of the platform is being driven by Elon Musk and his postings himself; he has expressed transphobic, anti-Semitic views and spread conspiracy theories, among other things.
‘Almost nothing is sanctioned on the platform anymore. The algorithms and control of Platform X are completely non-transparent. In addition, Elon Musk is instrumentalising the network as a political weapon, as was recently seen in the US election campaign.’
A number of clubs use X as a means of communication with fans, with the likes of Manchester United (38million), Barcelona (49m) and Real Madrid (51.8m) boasting countless followers.
Clubs also use the platform as a means of making money, with creators now paid for their content.
A number of users have now flogged to alternative platform Bluesky – which was developed in collaboration with Dorsey – while Meta’s Threads threatened X briefly previously. It is no different for Bremen, who themselves have encouraged fans to follow them on Dorsey’s new platform.
‘SV Werder Bremen clearly stands against hate and incitement, against discrimination and exclusion,’ the statement continued. ‘The Green-Whites stand for diversity, freedom and democracy, for cohesion and solidarity in society.
‘With the radicalisation of the platform in recent times, a red line has been crossed for the Bundesliga club. The Green-Whites are therefore leaving X and hope that many of the more than 600,000 followers will follow the club on Bluesky in the future.’
Bremen have encouraged their 600,000 followers to join them on Bluesky instead of X
St Pauli, meanwhile, posted: ‘Announcing its reasons for withdrawing, the club said that owner Elon Musk had turned a space for debate into an amplifier of hate that was capable of influencing the German parliamentary election campaign.
‘Since taking over Twitter, as the platform was previously known, Musk has converted X into a hate machine. Racism and conspiracy theories are allowed to spread unchecked and even curated. Insults and threats are seldom sanctioned and are sold as freedom of speech.’