So I’m thinking about leaving X.

The reason is quite clear why I’m considering this: many already left and with the surreal political situation in the US at the moment, I feel I reached the limits of my patience when it comes to Elon Musk.

Let me be clear: everybody should be entitled to have their own opinion, even if you don’t share that person’s opinion, even if you’re the CEO of a large social network, even if you have opinions that I consider complete bat shit. And boy, Elon has some bat shit convictions.

So why do I think of leaving X? Because the platform itself doesn’t seem to be neutral anymore. Solid proof is hard to come by when you ignore all the anecdotal and emotionally charged evidence but after a quick, elaborate search on the web I did find some compelling research results.

And even when solid evidence is still a work in progress, there’s certainly a motive for the alleged crime: Musk spent last year almost $300 million dollars on the Trump campaign. Knowing the boundary-breaking person that he is, it’s logical he would at least consider using his leverage over this large social network for a political goal that is clearly very dear for him.

“So who cares? You’re just a hobby photographer in a small city. You need a platform to spread your photos.” Very true. For me though, I’m totally blown away by what happened during this Trump presidency. And these are only the first few weeks. We have still 4 years to go. Four years to break down all those democratic checks and balances that may seem to be a hindrance at times but in the long run prevent authoritarian rule.

It’s hard to oppose Trump and at the same time provide content to the very social network that helped to get him elected. So even though I don’t consider myself an activist, I feel have to make a stance.

My first picture was posted on Twitter, so I have some attachment to that network. But I also realise that while my presence on social networks might change over time, my photo brand “Groeten uit Oss” will remain.

Decision: to be determined…

Update: I decided to keep my account but stop posting until I feel comfortable to post again on X.