Please have the City stop using the X social media platform

 

Wayne Senville <wsenville@gmail.com>
to tbarritt, achalnick, mscanlan, lsmith, efitzgerald, jbaker

Dear City Council Members,

As a South Burlington resident I’m troubled that the City of South Burlington is still using X for City posts. Many Vermonters are turning to Bluesky (probably the leading X alternative) out of concern about X / Twitter fostering misinformation / disinformation and cutting back on fact checking. I don’t believe the City’s continued use of X / Twitter is in keeping with the values held by many South Burlington residents.

Paris, France, a city just a bit larger than South Burlington, has discontinued use of X / Twitter. Here’s part of what Paris’ Mayor had to say, as reported in The Guardian newspaper:

(for the full news article in The Guardian)

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has announced she is quitting X, formerly Twitter, calling it a “gigantic global sewer” that is “destroying our democracies” by spreading abuse and misinformation.

After buying Twitter in 2022, the billionaire Elon Musk laid off thousands of employees, including many who moderated content on the platform. Rebranded as X, it has lost several major advertisers and has been criticised, including by the White House, for not doing enough to curtail antisemitism.

“I have made the decision to leave Twitter,” Hidalgo wrote in lengthy posts in English and French on Monday, citing manipulation, disinformation, antisemitism and attacks on scientists, climatologists, women and liberals.

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Thanks for considering having the City of South Burlington join Paris, France, in leading by example on this.

Sincerely,

Wayne Senville, South Burlington, VT