By Jason Lewis, Local Democracy Reporter

Southampton City Council will no longer be posting on social media platform X, it has announced.

 

 Cllr Lorna Fielker, leader of the council (pictured), said X, formerly known as Twitter, had ceased to be a “safe space” and the decision was “values based”.

The city council has been on the platform since 2009 and currently has around 53,500 followers, but the authority said many accounts are dormant with no activity for more than six months.

Cllr Fielker told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “As a local authority we look to communicate to communities, to businesses, to residents in the city and it’s about information giving.

“It could be about two way exchange, but we want to do that in a safe space, and over the past couple of years X has ceased to be a sort of safe space.

“There’s lots of misinformation on there, fact-checking has gone.

“They’ve changed the way the algorithm works as well, so people actually aren’t even seeing your stuff to engage with you.

“They’re seeing things that X decides they want you to see.”

The council said it will no longer be posting or engaging through its account on X, which has more followers than the authority’s profiles on other social media sites.

Attention will go into other platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, as well as the authority’s own website and newsletters.

Cllr Fielker said the city council’s account would not be deactivated due to concerns “bad faith actors” could adopt the handle and use it inappropriately.

“Both myself and the council’s accounts will still be live accounts, but there will be no updates put on them and there will be no engagement with anybody who seeks to message through those channels,” Cllr Fielker said.

X was acquired in 2022 by businessman Elon Musk, who was appointed to a government cost-cutting role in the United States of America by Donald Trump.

Several celebrities and organisations announced their departure from the platform after Mr Trump won the US presidential election last November.

Asked if she believed others should step away from X, Cllr Fielker said: “It’s not for me to tell other people what they should or shouldn’t do at all.

“We as the Labour administration have made a decision because we feel it’s the right decision for Southampton City Council to make.”

She added: “I’m not telling anybody that they shouldn’t remain on X as a platform.

“I know some of my councillors will still be doing that and the reason for that is they want to be in a space where they’re challenging misinformation as is their absolute right to do.”

Last year, Devon County Council decided to stop using X, citing abuse, disinformation and high costs.

Bus company Bluestar has also recently stopped posting travel alerts on X, instead switching to push notifications on its own app. Travel updates have also ceased on the council’s Southampton Travel account. An account does appear to have been set up on 'X alternative' Bluesky, although it isn't yet being used or widely followed.

Update 23/2/25: Southampton City Council now appears to have set up a Bluesky account and SCCHighways has now started updating their account with city travel news.