Our very first actions
J-60 A dangerous and unprecedented situation
On November 4th, 2024, Donald Trump indisputably won the presidential election of the world’s leading nuclear power. Given his judicial record, this stunned many. But what should give us food for thought is not so much the number of pro-Trump voters, which has risen by just 1% since his defeat in 2020, but the margin of votes that allowed Trump to win (less than three million votes more than Harris) compared with the grip of Elon Musk’s social network over the American voters: X, formerly known as Twitter, has 100 million users in the United States.
Contrary to his claims, Musk did not buy Twitter to defend freedom of expression. Musk bought Twitter to get his hands on the personal data and information environment of 500 million people. And in doing so, to influence opinion of people in the United States and around the world. Elon Musk’s strategy for conquering power is clear: use his grip on X to bring even a small proportion of reluctant users to vote for Trump in 2024 and, above all, to discourage Democratic voters from casting their ballots.
Added to this is the fact that X is the go-to source for traditional media to gather candidate quotes and observe political trends, showcasing the strategic advantage of owning X to influence elections worldwide.
Elon Musk is a businessman. He cares little about users—as long as they stay. He banked on users’ complacency, chained to X by their audience. So far, he has been right.
Since the purchase of Twitter/X, several changes in platform algorithms and design have allowed Musk to shape Twitter/X in his image and master the beating heart of global information: under the banner of “freedom of speech,” moderation teams were decimated and the policy to combat misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic was suspended; accounts previously banned for incitement to violence, promotion of Nazism, or homophobia have been reinstated; they are now even monetized. For all users, news feeds were enriched with toxic content—toxicity being, incidentally, a hallmark of Trump’s team’s rhetoric—and Musk’s posts and Trump supporters’ messages were specifically highlighted for users.
A striking figure: with 200 million followers, Musk’s political messages have garnered over 17 billion views since aligning with Trump—more than twice the views of all political ads on X during the same period!
Account authenticity verification on X no longer exists. The former verification badge has been repurposed to signal that an account paid for increased visibility on X.
X has become a machine to promote Elon Musk, his wealth, and his ideology (classified as libertarian far-right). The survival of dissent depends solely on his will: several influencer accounts, journalists, or political opponents have been shut down without notice for opposing Musk’s views.
It is a typical example of the danger of centralized social networks designed to make users captive while exploiting their audience. Musk does not hide this, boasting openly about force-feeding X users with his tweets..
“Unprecedented Moral Decay”
Musk and his team’s messages are anything but informative: they shared fake videos of Kamala Harris without clarifying their nature, promoted false information about electoral processes or migrants, organized rigged lotteries worth a million dollars that resemble vote-buying, and amplified fraudulent campaigns orchestrated by his teams. One such initiative amounts to identity theft: Progress 2028, a fake Kamala Harris campaign site funded by Musk, caricatured her platform to make her a turn-off for parts of her electorate. For example, this site falsely claimed she advocated for transgender care for LGBTQIA minors, ensuring “every young person has access to the care they need—without fear of discrimination or parental intervention.” This site was promoted not only on X but also through massive SMS campaigns, which may have utilized X’s data for effective targeting.
The American campaign has thus reached unprecedented levels of moral decay and sophistication in disinformation. If nothing changes, democracies are unlikely to withstand this type of environment.
Elon Musk has already demonstrated his willingness to interfere in European politics by supporting the AfD in Germany, aligning with Giorgia Meloni, or commenting on the civil unrest during the summer 2024 riots in the UK.
On January 20, 2025, Trump will be inaugurated,
Musk will answer only to his own rules,
And he will face no limits.
X has now become a state propaganda machine. Any use of X now directly or indirectly benefits the alt-intern’s program, the international far-right movement promoted by the American alt-right and the Kremlin. X/Twitter users have become cannon fodder in the cognitive war waged by the American far-right (and incidentally, other foreign powers).
Traditional media are the last line of defense against this war machine. Musk and his supporters wish for their demise. The slogans "Legacy media is dead" and "X is the media" have been launched.
Let us stop burying our heads in the sand in the name of our audience.
We do not have to accept this war because we can regain control of our informational spaces.
The good news is that this can be done simply and smoothly. Let us not forget that it is us, the users, and only us, who give value to a social network. As Coluche once said: “If we stop buying, it won’t sell anymore.”
On January 20, 2025, let’s leave X!
Let us leave X on January 20, 2025. Not before, not after.
The key is to do so while retaining our audience, threads, and social capital to preserve their overall social value. This requires organization, and it starts now!
Step 1 before #January20: Archive our X data
By January 20, 2025, migration tools will allow us to transfer our threads and audience (followers) from X to other networks that ensure freedom of expression. To use them, we will need two things. The first is the archive of all our tweets and followees. The first step is therefore to obtain the archive of everything X knows about you. X is legally obligated to provide it. Request a copy from X now and keep it safe.
Step 2 before #January20: Create a Mastodon or Bluesky account, or both
To ensure freedom of expression, a social network must allow three things: control over your data, your audience, and your recommendation algorithm. X offers none of these. Mastodon and BlueSky are the main alternatives to date. They are less popular, thus less attractive currently. But with some coordination, on January 20, they will be at the heart of information.
The second step is to create an account on one of these networks, or both. Create it now, even if you do not use it before then, so you can transfer your threads and contacts into a healthy environment no later than January 20.
Musk does not hesitate to censor content to prevent users from informing themselves. In 2022, Musk unilaterally shut down several accounts of journalists and influencers who displeased him and censored the word “Mastodon” on X, even closing Mastodon’s Twitter account to mask the first significant user exodus. #HelloQuitX will likely face new countermeasures.
To successfully extricate ourselves from toxic digital environments, this must be done in a coordinated way, by preparing the ground in advance and diversifying actions.
Become a Spokesperson for @HelloQuitX
Display the #January20 announcement at work near the coffee machine (PDF version)
Share the manifesto PDF via email here.
Each of us has a role to play in the change. Follow @HelloQuitX on X, Mastodon, and Bluesky or its French counterpart @HelloQuitteX! Subscribe to its YouTube channel in English or French. Follow it on Instagram. Various actions will be proposed until January 20 to raise awareness about social media issues and empower citizens to resist opinion manipulation.
To start, inform your followers and retweet messages from the HelloQuitX community. Also, post original messages based on the most important ones by rewriting them into new tweets. This makes censorship based on a single account harder. Add quotes and mentions (@..) in your tweets to ensure they reach their intended recipients.
Engage users, especially those who want to leave, by kindly inviting them to join the HelloQuitX movement and use their audience in the meantime to explain the situation.
On January 20, X will be beyond any control. Its users will be nothing more than pawns of its algorithm.
Let’s refuse to be pawns.
Let’s play our own game.
On January 20, let’s reclaim control of our digital spaces.
On January 20, let’s leave X.
#January20 #HelloQuitX
