Scottish councils quit X

A number of Scottish councils have left or are considering leaving X in response to the proliferation of harmful content on the platform.

To date, thee councils have decided to leave or step back from X, while others are keeping their use of the platform “under review”.

Last month, South Lanarkshire Council became the latest local authority to scale back its activity on the site in response to a motion noting the site allowed for the spread of dangerous content.

The motion said there were “widespread public concerns” that X allowed for “the promotion and dissemination of harmful and extremist content, including content that is unlawful, abusive or false.”

Following the motion, put forward by the Liberal Democrats and amended by the SNP, a majority of the council voted to “immediately cease the use of X as a platform for non-urgent, general engagement with the public”.

The council plans to delete its account in the future but recognised that more than 59,000 people currently follow the council’s X account and rely on the platform for information.

In the meantime, it has encouraged local schools and other “council-associated X users” to also scale-back their use of the platform and instead create Bluesky accounts to communication with users.

South Lanarkshire’s decision came after East Renfrewshire Council and Renfrewshire Council decided to stop using X earlier this year.

An East Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said: "Due to changes made to X, this channel no longer provided a meaningful way for us to engage with our residents."

X, owned by tech magnate Elon Musk, has been criticised over the past year for failing to combat the spread of misinformation and dangerous content. Earlier this year Scottish MP Gregor Poynton wrote to Musk demanding him to review his platform’s moderation policies or risk “further regulatory scrutiny and potential legislative consequences”, after finding violent content linked to the Southport attack was still online.

Holyrood contacted the remaining 29 Scottish councils on whether they are also considering taking a similar approach.

Last month, the City of Edinburgh councillor Chas Booth put forward a motion for the council to discontinue its use of X and transition to other social media sites instead, citing the prevalence of hate speech, extremist, violent, misogynistic and pornographic content in the platform.

The council told Holyrood a report setting out the council’s future use of X is expected by 27 May.

A Moray Council spokesperson confirmed it only uses X  "for emergency alerts and other urgent communications", but that there are "no plans to leave the platform".

Falkirk Council said there are no proposals “to stop using X as a public communication channel”, but said is keeping the use of the site “under review”.

Similarly, a Stirling Council spokesperson said there are “no current plans to stop using X” but insisted all communication channels “are kept under constant review for their effectiveness”.

A Highlands Council spokesperson said the council has created BlueSky and Threads accounts "in anticipation of any changes needing to be made in the future regarding our social media accounts.”

Meanwhile, Angus councillor Julie Bell has urged her council to delete its X account.

Bell left the platform last summer over concerns of its “toxicity” and “ownership issues”.

She told Holyrood: “I feel the public sector’s continued presence on it could be interpreted as a tacit approval of its direction of travel, which I know is not the case.

“However, I am aware the challenge faced by public services is the reach into our communities, particularly around emergency planning incidents such as flooding and road blockages. I absolutely get that, and I’m pleased my council has also moved onto Bluesky, so I would encourage more citizens to vote with their feet and follow us on alternative sites.

“There will be a tipping point, I am sure, and I confident the Scottish Government and our partners, such as Cosla, Police Scotland, the NHS and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, are also considering these issues and all move in the same direction very shortly.  I think both leadership and showing some moral backbone are very important to our constituents and I hope we can reach a collegiate approach to how we communicate to our constituents in an appropriate and ethical way in the near future.”