A lot X-users desperately want to go, but are finding it difficult. One remedy? X-last.
TL;DR: Today we’re releasing a new strategy that anyone -- individuals, elected officials, or organizations -- can adopt to address the dangerous, hateful direction of X (Twitter) and help build healthier, more functional online communities elsewhere.
And we’re asking your help to spread the word.
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Indivisibles,
A month ago, we emailed to let you know that we were stepping back from X (formerly Twitter) because the site is increasingly hateful, decreasingly functional, and absolutely chockablock with conspiracy theories and misinformation.
If you missed that email, we go into a lot more detail on the what and why here but in short: X sucks, we feel icky using it, and it’s quickly becoming less useful anyway.
The response to our announcement was amazing. Lots of kind words, lots of pledges to join us on alternative platforms (Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon), and then… questions.
Questions like, "What’s next?" "How do we bring others along with us to stop feeding the platform?" "X is dangerous but it’s still popular so wtf are you doing about that?" "We have an existential election next year and people are still getting their news and trying to mobilize voters on a website run by Elon Musk, so for real, what’s your PLAN, Indivisible?"
So we sat down to think up a plan. Because we love plans.
We know there are a lot of organizations and allies in Congress who share our views about Musk and the direction of X, but aren’t ready to leave the platform completely. The fact is, it’s SCARY ditching a tool we’ve used so effectively for so long. Afterall, we launched the Indivisible guide on Twitter almost exactly 7 years ago and amassed about 250,000 followers on the platform. A lot of people have spent years building a following on X. And it’s hard to leave when so many other trusted and important voices continue to prioritize the platform.
Then it hit us: What if trusted voices no longer prioritized the platform? What if members of Congress, organizations, and other prominent users simply decided to post on X… last?
📉 The first thing that would happen is X would no longer be the place where news breaks first and where conversations happen first. And really, that’s X’s only remaining selling point. That’s what pulls journalists, elected officials, high-profile individuals, and organizations back to the platform.
📈 The second thing that would happen is users would start joining alternative platforms where the news and analysis WAS starting to appear first. We'd start seeing our favorite people on those social networks instead of Musk's.
🌊 From there, momentum would build. X users would see their followers and engagement growing on alternative platforms, and stepping back from X wouldn’t seem so scary. If done right, every individual, every elected official, every organization that adopted this strategy would be part of building a self-perpetuating wave of exits from X.
We think it’s a pretty powerful idea. A gentle remedy for people who agree X is crappy but are having a hard time dropping it. We call it the X-Last approach, and we need your help pushing it out.
The X-last Approach
Let’s start by drilling down into specifics. This strategy is REALLY simple for anyone on X to adopt. It’s just four easy steps, and we’ve created a whole guide here on how to implement them.
How you can get involved
The approach is simple, but for it to make a lick of a difference, we need a whole lot of people to adopt it. That’s where you come in!
- Are you an X user? You can pledge to adopt an X-last approach yourself.
- Do you operate an X account for a brand, org, or a local Indivisible group? Add your org to the pledge!
- Are there groups you support who you’d like to see taking a stand on X and organizing on better, healthier platforms? Email them, hit them up on social media, or reach out however you can and encourage THEM to adopt an X-last approach. A great strategy is replying to their posts criticizing X and/or Musk. “Hey, why don’t you do something about it? Sign the X-Last pledge here!”
- Do you have a Member of Congress whose values are not aligned with the right-wing cesspool X has become? Urge them to take the pledge!
However you can do it, help get this out there. Help build our numbers. Help us organize a real collective response to the major threat to democracy that X has become.
Today is launch day, but as time goes on, we’ll be listing out major orgs/political leaders that sign on, celebrating them, and offering more resources to help Indivisibles build momentum. If there are resources you’d like to see, please let us know.
We’re so grateful for all the feedback we’ve already gotten on this work and are excited to build this campaign together.
In solidarity, Sarah Dohl Chief Campaigns Officer, Indivisible
Here's a graphic you can save and use when asking others to take the pledge!
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