A German football club is leaving X following a rise in hate speech and disinformation on the social media platform that it claims could undermine the country’s early elections.
FC St. Pauli announced the decision on Thursday, saying billionaire owner Elon Musk has turned the platform into a “hate machine” since he took over the company in 2022.
“Racism and conspiracy theories are allowed to spread unchecked and even curated,” St. Pauli said in a statement. “Insults and threats are rarely punished and sold as freedom of speech.”
The club said it already had a limited number of posts on X and more “political statements in support of diversity and inclusion to take a stand against hate”.
Selim Sudheimer/Getty Images
The club, which plays in the Bundesliga, is named after the Hamburg district of St. Pauli and is known among football fans for its left-wing supporter base. Fan groups often chant anti-racist slogans and promote diversity within the club.
St. Pauli also underlined Musk’s role in last week’s US presidential election, claiming his platform could influence the outcome of Germany’s early elections, due to take place in February next year, by “manipulating the public debate”.
“Musk was a key supporter of the Trump campaign and also used X for this purpose,” the club said. “It can be assumed that X will also promote authoritarian, misanthropic and far-right content during the upcoming German election campaign.”
St. Pauli said it would stop sharing content on X, but it would not deactivate the account. The club urged supporters to follow updates on Bluesky, an alternative social media platform that has seen a surge in new members following President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory last week.
Musk was a key figure in Trump’s third election campaign. He donated millions of dollars and promoted content for his message on X. Trump announced this week that he will be part of the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency along with fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur seeking the Republican Party nomination.
On November 6, Germany’s coalition government collapsed after Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed the finance minister, who represented the pro-business Free Democratic Party. The Chancellor will ask for a vote of confidence in the German Bundestag in December.
St. Pauli wants to migrate its nearly 250,000 followers ahead of early elections in Germany, in which the center-right opposition Christian Democratic Union party is expected to make significant gains.
The far-right Alternative for Germany party has also gained popularity. With 76 seats it is the fifth largest party in the Bundestag. In September’s state elections in Thuringia, the AfD became the first far-right party in Germany to win an election since World War II.
