A number of well-known celebrities, but also unknown users, are seriously considering leaving the popular social media platform Twitter after the news of Elon Musk buying out the company from its shareholders became public.
It appears the Tesla owner’s appeals for “…even his most harsh critics” to remain on Twitter fell on deaf ears, as many have already deactivated their accounts or are threatening to do so, as they fear what may lie ahead of Musk’s acquisition of the company.
Most notable among them is the Good Place actress Jameela Jamil, who posted earlier on Monday what she said to be her final tweet before deleting her account: “I fear this free speech bid is going to help this hell platform reach its final form of totally lawless hate, bigotry, and misogyny. Best of luck.”
Activist Shaun King was also one of the people to delete their accounts once the news of Musk’s takeover broke out, only to return a few hours later and begin a campaign informing the public about the toxic workplace environment in Musk’s companies like Tesla.
“I’m still here mother-f***ers,” King posted on his profile to stress that he wouldn’t be leaving the platform.
Another highly prolific person who seems to have departed as they threatened to do so if the billionaire moved forward with his deal to buy the company is The Amazing Spider-Man writer Erik Larsen.
Wrestler Mike Foley and activist Amy Siskind have also pointed out that they’re considering their course of action as they don’t agree with the recent developments.
But it’s not just the celebrity world which appears to have taken a bad reaction to the news of Musk buying out the platform, with many other people also looking into deactivating their accounts.
According to data by Visualping, the Google search term “delete twitter account” showed a sharp rise by 82 percent just after the announcement was made public.
Regardless of whether people are actually moving forward with deleting their accounts or not, this displays an increasing concern in regards to how the changes will affect free speech and the direction the company will be headed towards.
