Elton John quits Twitter over misinformation following Elon Musk takeover

Music legend Elton John, who is currently on his last ever global tour, has quoted Twitter’s “recent change in policy” after its takeover by Elon Musk as the reason for quitting the social media platform. This alteration, the musician has explained, will allow misinformation to flourish.

The 75-year old is just the latest in a string of high-profile names to discontinue their use of the social media site. Others who have resigned from using the platform include Whoopi Goldberg, Jack White, Jim Carrey and Jameela Jamil.

In an emotional statement, Elton expressed how “it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world.”

“I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked,” he continued.

All my life I’ve tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world.
 
I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked.

— Elton John (@eltonofficial) December 9, 2022

Twitter’s recent policy change includes its decision to no longer enforce its Covid misinformation policy, which saw the site suspend over 11,000 accounts for breaking these rules. The social media site recently confirmed its reversal of this policy on 23rd November 2022, stating “Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy.”

The announcement followed a wave of employee dismissals after Musk’s takeover, which included those that were outsourced content moderators who were responsible for tracking abuse on the site.

The backlash escalated when the accounts of Donald Trump and Kanye West were reinstated- only for the rapper’s account to be deactivated once again after his anti-semitic statements and messages.

Trent Renzor, another figure to exit the app, dubbed Twitter a “toxic environment”, while Jack White branded Donald Trump’s reactivation “asshole move”.

As part of his world tour, Elton was announced as the headline act for Glastonbury 2023 which will see Elton John perform for the final time.