In the fourth episode of our culture podcast, Dazed and Discoursed, hosts Halima Jibril and Elliot Hoste are joined by Thom Waite, contributing features writer at Dazed, to discuss his article, “We Need to Talk About Elon Musk’s X”. Waite delves into the mass departure of users from X (formerly known as Twitter) following Donald Trump’s US presidential victory. Since Elon Musk took over the platform in 2022, X has been flooded with right-wing rhetoric, raising concerns about its role in Trump’s election and broader political influence. At the same time, alternative social media platform Bluesky has gained over 700,000 new users in the past week alone. Celebrities and media platforms like The Guardian and Gabrielle Union, Lizzo, and Barbra Streisand have all posted impassioned statements explaining their decision to leave X for Bluesky, spurred in part by Musk’s appointment as head of Government Efficiency in Trump's administration. 

But is migrating to another platform really the answer? Or do we bear a collective responsibility to stay and challenge right-wing ideology to prevent further radicalisation?

Listen to episode four of Dazed and Discoursed above, or find it on Acast, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.