Elton John joins growing list of celebrities leaving Twitter, blames ‘misinformation’

Elton John has joined a group of celebrities who are deactivating their Twitter accounts as discontent for new policies implemented by recent owner Elon Musk grows.

John said the decision to no longer use the bird app is primarily due to “their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked.”

“All my life I’ve tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world,” he wrote in a goodbye Tweet.

Musk responded in the early afternoon, asking the legendary singer-songwriter via Tweet if there was “any misinformation in particular” that concerned him.

Musk’s new policies include the introduction of the $8 blue checks, allowing anyone to get a verified symbol next to their profiles if they’re willing to shell out money for it. The check had been previously used to differentiate official accounts of journalists, celebrities, governments and other public figures from remaining accounts.

Celebrities like singer Sara Bareilles and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes left the app in late October for similar reasons.

Some are fleeing to alternative app ‘Mastodon,’ which offers a similar proposition: users can follow each other, blast their thoughts in few characters, and ‘boost’ other people’s comments.

Ana Pereira is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @anabpereiraa

SHARE: