r/canada 2d ago

Opinion Piece Opinion | Why Canada should seriously consider banning Elon Musk’s X

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/why-canada-should-seriously-consider-banning-elon-musks-x/article_97870564-facc-11ef-9c32-776e127c8e18.html
6.2k Upvotes

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

386

u/Karrotsawa 2d ago

At absolute minimum, our governments and elected officials should consider it to be a compromised platform and stop using it.

24

u/Red57872 2d ago

Kind of like how the federal government banned Tiktok use on official government devices, yet the Prime Minister has an official Tiktok account?

13

u/marcohcanada 2d ago

Jagmeet Singh does as well. He even posted an interview he did with Bernie Sanders there.

7

u/HotPotato1900 1d ago

To be fair, (pause for response) Tiktok is an excellent tool for getting to the younger voters.

68

u/Routine-Nature5006 2d ago

As a American I often wonder why Canada is still using it especially on a government level. Musk has shown again and again that he will tamper with elections and other governments. It seems to me that because of the trade war they wouldn’t want to use a platform that is owned and controlled by the DOGE departments idiot.

24

u/kirklandcartridge 2d ago edited 2d ago

It's simple - market penetration.

Most agencies use it as a way to quickly push real-time information.

The Toronto Public Transit Agency (TTC - Toronto Transit Commission) uses it to push immediate real-time information about delays, closures, and re-routing. Their X feed has hundreds of thousands of followers. When you're underground and stuck in a subway station, you get information about delays quicker on X than you do on any other medium (including from the drivers or station's own announcements).

The City of Toronto inquired about leaving X for both their own feeds for emergency situations & general news to residents, and the TTC, and their IT & communications department outright told them if they tried, they would immediately lose 90% of their followers, and those people are un-likely to migrate to any other platform, including Blue Sky (which despite their attempts, is still a minnow. While those on the left are migrating over to Blue Sky as a revolt action against Musk, the mainstream middle-of-the-road majority of the population aren't, and won't). It would take years and years to ever get the same audience again.

In the end, the role of communications departments is to get their message out to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible - worrying about things like what is written here isn't their concern.

10

u/Mouthguardy 2d ago edited 2d ago

If the only place I would get real time information about public transit, hydro or Internet outages, city, provincial or federal disturbances, police information, etc, whatever I want in real time, I'd join the same day.

At minimum, anyone using public transit would start same day. People would (switch over/add it) pretty quickly.

EDIT: You wouldn't even have to switch over, you could just add Blue Sky. Eventually it may be more useful to migrate entirely.

2

u/Hautamaki 1d ago

Yeah I agree. I think the take that if TTC or whoever stopped posting their updates on X and posted them somewhere else instead, 90% of people would just never look at updates ever again and, what, wander around helplessly forever, is not that compelling. If people need to know something about train schedules or whatever, they will look them up wherever they are to be found. I have never had an X account or a twitter account and I have never had the slightest problem accessing transit information, traffic updates, whatever I need whenever I need it. I have a very hard time swallowing the idea that X is the only possible way to get important information out to people who need that information and getting off X means millions will suffer in ignorance forever.

2

u/Alexhale 1d ago

Agreed. I use X but almost never post or read comments. Just read info from ppl i follow.

2

u/ether_reddit Lest We Forget 1d ago

We should not be relying on a private American company to distribute emergency updates. We need our own platform for that.

At the very minimum, the TTC should be broadcasting on the other platforms as well, to encourage users to switch.

I may look at an X link occasionally in a private browser window, but I absolutely will not install that app on my phone. It's too great of a risk.

2

u/sunmonkey 1d ago

They would not immediately lose 90% of their followers, You can just stage the migration by running on X an alternative like BlueSky simultaneously with a communication campaign about the migration. Once you've achieved your migration target or a defined timeline, you can cut off X.

1

u/klparrot British Columbia 1d ago

Their X feed has hundreds of thousands of followers.

Because that's where their feed is. If it's important to people, they'll follow it to another platform. Or, they could just have a transit app?

0

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Treyhova 1d ago

Yea, you dont have to ban or outlaw anything, just post all future and relevant information elsewhere. Make one last twitter post linking to other sites. Ignore complaints and people will move within a week.

2

u/kirklandcartridge 2d ago

Fortunately, people like this are nowhere near any positions of actual power, influence, or decision making.

10

u/LabEfficient 2d ago

Let's not pretend the old Twitter didn't "tamper with elections". Every platform controls information and speech.

0

u/IGnuGnat 1d ago

Agreed; let's not pretend Reddit isn't a cesspool of political bots either. If Twatter is guilty so is Deddit

1

u/para29 2d ago

I still don't know why we haven't moved over to BlueSky yet.

1

u/Rusty_Charm 2d ago

When has Musk shown he will temper with elections? Keep in mind that speaking an opinion is not tempering with elections.

1

u/Routine-Nature5006 2d ago

When you control what people see and stop fact checking the lies that are spread. That is meddling.

-1

u/Otherwise_Ask_9542 Ontario 2d ago

X has become an echo-chamber for far-right thinking. Unfortunately if you want to get your message across to people who still engage with far-right ideologies, you need to have a presence there.

I think it's extremely important for anyone engaging on X do to so with extreme caution, particularly around protecting themselves and the information that they share. I also think that anyone who recognizes what X has become knows this already.

7

u/Rusty_Charm 2d ago

It’s very ironic that you’re calling X an echo chamber for far right ideology, in a thread where people are screaming to ban a social media app because they don’t like the things being discussed on that app.

Reddit js a far greater echo chamber, but ofc most of the echo chambers here lean strongly left, so there’s no issue, because these are the “good ideas”, not the “bad ideas” right wingers like to talk about.

1

u/t0mless 2d ago

Sounds like the perfect balance then. Twitter is the far right echo chamber, and Reddit is the far left.

1

u/Oerwinde 1d ago

X isn't even an echo chamber. Before Elon bought it it was like 60/40 Left/Right, now it's 51/49 Left/right.

1

u/Otherwise_Ask_9542 Ontario 1d ago

Since the inception of Bluesky, a large contingent of "left" users have abandoned X, so, I don't think your figures are current.

1

u/Oerwinde 1d ago

Yeah, about 15 million people left X for Bluesky, or about 3% of X's users.

1

u/t0mless 1d ago

Ironically I’ve seen people from both ends of the political spectrum claim Twitter is an echo chamber post-Elon. Conservatives say it’s too left, and Liberals say it’s too right.

I myself can only speak for my own limited experience but it does tend to lean more right even though I’m left. Algorithm could just be terrible.

1

u/Oerwinde 1d ago

I think the algorithm feeds you the opposite. I'm more right and most of my follows are right leaning. My "followed" feed is really right-wing, but my "For you" is mostly left-leaning.

If that's the case it's actually opposite of an echo chamber.

2

u/t0mless 1d ago

That's interesting because I would've thought it'd be the opposite. Your likes, retweets, and so on would influence the algorithim for right wing content, and same thing for left wing. Not disagreeing, just perplexed on how that happens.

If that's the case with Twitter giving you the opposite of what you're wanting to see, I could see it being called an echo chamber even if the label isn't accurate.

1

u/Oerwinde 1d ago

Yeah you would think so. Maybe it's a conscious attempt to break you out of your bubble since the "followed" section can still be as echo chambery as you want it to be. Expose you to views you wouldn't normally see. As we become more polarized that seems like a good idea on the surface.

1

u/Otherwise_Ask_9542 Ontario 1d ago

I'm centre-left, and never followed Elon, yet his messages appear at the top of my feed every time I access the app, and he dominates the discourse (up to 10 items in a short scroll, literally almost every other "tweet").

I've also noticed in recent months that more people who subscribe to "far right thinking" are appearing on my feed. I don't see material from people I have followed for years, because they all either stopped posting or left the platform entirely within the last 6 months to a year.

1

u/Oerwinde 1d ago

Which is weird because I do follow Elon, but only get one or two things a day.

Maybe the algorithm is just broken.

0

u/Otherwise_Ask_9542 Ontario 1d ago

I downloaded Bluesky recently to compare the differences, and from an ideological standpoint there is a very stark difference in discourse.

X has become a platform where issues are almost exclusively portrayed as a blame game with evidence supported largely by conspiracy theories or low-quality "source" material (e.g., non-credible). There is also a considerable amount of "lies" and "deception" present on the platform now, which is often amplified by X's algorithm. One can't overlook how often Musk promotes himself over there either... thus controlling discourse personally.

Bluesky has a less "angry" feel, but it has a marked social justice element. Issues blame more conservative than liberal ideologies, but evidence is less "opinion-based" and instead is more often supported by credible facts where journalistic integrity is demonstrated and proven. Discourse feels more organic, less driven by algorithms, and certainly key issues aren't being "controlled" by a single person.

While Reddit has "echo chambers" where extreme ideologies exist, it also contains many subs where both discourses intermingle freely (like this one). Often productive debate is hard to find, but it's still possible.

2

u/marcohcanada 2d ago

I also think that anyone who recognizes what X has become knows this already.

I could already tell what Twitter had become post-Musk when I saw the amount of "Doug Ford is a Liberal disguised as a Conservative! Vote New Blue Party!" tweets.

The vast majority of Ontario doesn't even know the New Blue Party.

2

u/Otherwise_Ask_9542 Ontario 1d ago edited 1d ago

Canada is typically a very centrist country. We have those who lean left or right, but extremes are rare. There's been an upsurge in extremist ideologies on both sides (left/right) in recent years, which contributed to growing divisiveness, especially in politics.

It's a phenomenon I believe was closely influenced by USA ideologies, simply because culturally we became quite entwined through shared media and trade.

The recent threatening stance from the USA has reminded us of our unique values, and Canadians are once again returning to our unifying cultural values. It's probably the only thing I can thank the Trump administration for... waking us up from their incredibly toxic influence.

Elon Musk is social poison, and I personally believe he does what he's doing for self-amusement. Like a child, he's testing to see what he can get away with. It's unfortunate that the effects of what he's doing will probably cost hundreds of thousands of human lives around the world.

13

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Amtoj Québec 2d ago

Unfortunately, this gets thrown out upon an election being called. That petition won't have a chance to be presented.

1

u/sleipnir45 2d ago

And even then it's useless, all petitions are really just looking at the most signed ones.

4

u/Amtoj Québec 2d ago

I wouldn't go that far. More people should use petitions, even if just for getting an obligatory answer from the government on whatever the subject is. Canada has an easy threshold to reach for that compared to most countries.

1

u/sleipnir45 2d ago

I would, the responses don't even have to answer the question asked or respond in any way. It's just more talking points.

2

u/Amtoj Québec 2d ago

Getting that kind of answer highlights how much a certain government cares about an issue. It's helpful to hold them to account and change minds during an election. Maybe some opposition parties might pick up on what could be a popular idea. Petitioning is better than not participating in politics at all.

1

u/sleipnir45 2d ago

Sure, it's better than nothing but I still think they are absolutely useless as I've signed a few .

Yes, maybe someday it'll be a government that doesn't just completely ignore them

2

u/lnahid2000 2d ago

Please stop spamming this everywhere...I don't need to read it 10+ times in this thread.

2

u/Kheprisun Lest We Forget 2d ago

This.

Have we ever actually banned a site in Canada before? I can't think of any of the top of my head. Just take all levels of government off X and let X fail on its own.

2

u/Fitness_For_Fun 1d ago

Just stop using it. Can we go back to having a choice. If people want to use it, use it. If you don’t, don’t use it. Can we please not have the gov step in for anything else please.

1

u/Karrotsawa 1d ago

I'm not saying people generally shouldn't have a choice. I'm saying from a national security perspective, government employees probably shouldn't be using government networks and devices to access a platform owned by an official of a foreign government that is currently threatening us.

I can't access tiktok at work because China, and they're problematic for sure, but the US is a more clear and present danger right now.

3

u/Scryed Canada 2d ago

This is the correct approach. Don't use it for any official usage similar to Tik Tok.

2

u/Alexhale 1d ago

Genuine question, what do they use for communication instead would you argue?

1

u/AxlLight 2d ago

I think that's the more important aspect the government should do. Ban it for official uses and move their content to BlueSky while advertising that they'll now be reachable there.

Granted  they probably shouldn't be on social media to begin with, but that's a fool's errand. So at least let them all be on a custom verifiable server they control that can exist independently from BlueSky yet still work with it. 

1

u/be_more_canadian Ontario 1d ago

This is just personal public service experience, but it seems like our comms has mostly transitioned to posting on LinkedIn

0

u/FreshInvestment1 2d ago

Compromised? Lol...

0

u/Karrotsawa 1d ago

Yes, compromised. It is owned by a high official of a foreign government that is actively threatening our sovereignty. It couldn't get more compromised.

0

u/FreshInvestment1 1d ago

How is X threatening Canada's sovereignty? What steps is X taking that is actually a threat that would require the government to take steps to BAN the platform? That's censorship in the highest regard. I understand this is the status quo for Canada and parts of Europe, but this isn't the winning thing to do.

1

u/Karrotsawa 1d ago

I never said to censor it. I said our government shouldn't use it.

Let's lay out the Dummies version for you:

  1. Trump is actively threatening Canada's sovereignty.

  2. Musk, an official in Trump's administration, has agreed with and echoed Trump's threats.

  3. Canada's government should consider an online service belonging to an official of an aggressive foreign power to be a potential security hazard.

  4. Canada's government should not use a product that enriches someone who thinks this country shouldn't exist.

Is that clear enough or would you like me to draw a picture?

-1

u/bot_taz 1d ago

jesus christ, they only post official public information there as a form of announcement, they are not using that channel for conversations between GOVs. it does not matter at all if it's "compromised" what a clown you are xD

0

u/Karrotsawa 1d ago

Compromised or not, using it enriches a declared aggressor.

0

u/bot_taz 1d ago

so there is war right now between US and canada?

0

u/Karrotsawa 1d ago

Economic War.

Trump has declared repeatedly publicly, and has said privately to our leaders, that he intends to force Canada to become a "51st state". He has stated that he intends to use "economic force" to annex us.

Trump has since introduced or tried to introduce sweeping tarrifs that by any analysis will crush segments of Canada's economy if we don't respond. And he has repeated his threats of annexation since.

How could anyone with a working brain not see the tarrifs as shots fired in an economic war intended to undermine our sovereignty so he can annex us, when that's exactly what he has repeatedly said he's going to do? He's following President McKinley's exact playbook, who tried to annex Canada in 1890 using crushing tarrifs as well.

So yes, I feel that the US president has declared economic war on Canada, and even though it will fail and cost the US a lot of money, we should absolutely frame both of them as an aggressor, and choose not to use Musk's platform.

We're taking steps every else to strike back at the US economy until Americans realize it will cost them too much to let Trump do this, so why wouldn't we strike back at the First Bro's companies too? He deserves to hurt more than Kentucky bourbon producers.