The College Fix

‘No longer a place where we want to encourage conversations’

A recent survey of United Kingdom universities reveals several have “scaled back usage of X to the bare minimum or quit completely.”

This is due to alleged “misinformation,” “content that promotes violence,” and “declining engagement.”

Reuters looked at the X (formerly Twitter) accounts of over 150 schools and “their colleges and art conservatoires,” and asked those that hadn’t posted anything recently why this was the case.

Some cited X’s role in allegedly “spreading misinformation that fueled race riots last year.”

The corresponding report, which refers to X owner Elon Musk as “a close aide to United States President-elect Donald Trump,” notes he has called for Prime Minister Keir Starmer “to be jailed,” and for “far-right English Defense League” co-founder Tommy Robinson to be freed from prison.

Reuters doesn’t say but Musk is angry about the U.K. government’s response (or lack thereof) to “South Asian” grooming gangs responsible for some 1,400 incidents of sexual abuse against female minors between 1997 and 2013.

Politico refers to the government report regarding the gangs as “rallying points for figures on the right of British politics.”

While many U.K. higher ed institutions “still post regularly to X,” Reuters notes the London Business School hasn’t posted anything since September, seven of Cambridge’s 31 colleges have left the platform, and Oxford’s top academic college deleted its X account altogether.

London Business School told Reuters it “continually reviews its communications channels and decides which to use based on levels of effective audience engagement.”

Cambridge’s largest college, Homerton, said “We know this platform [X] is becoming increasingly toxic, so we will continue to assess our presence on X and monitor emerging alternatives.”

Buckinghamshire New University added that X is “no longer a place where we want to encourage conversations with our university,” and the Royal Northern College of Music said it is “consciously channelling its energy elsewhere.”

Others, like East Anglia and Falmouth University, merely pointed to decreased engagement.

The report also notes university disengagement from X follows that of many academics. In the U.S., the academic flight began around November of 2022 when Musk unbanned Donald Trump following the latter’s post-January 6 Capitol riot “permanent suspension.”

MORE: Elon Musk’s free speech stance is ‘dangerous,’ Columbia journalism fellow says

IMAGE: Frederic Legrand, COMEO/Shutterstock.com

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter