Elton John says he won’t be using Twitter anymore.
Sir Elton said in a brief statement on the social media platform, “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. I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given 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.
I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked.
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) December 9, 2022
The policy the music icon is likely referring to is Twitter’s former “Covid-19 misleading information” policy. The policy was put in place to help deter the spread of false information related to the coronavirus pandemic. Twitter had a page that was named the “COVID-19 – Twitter Transparency Center.” After the platform was officially purchased by Elon Musk, that page now features the following message: “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy.”
Twitter’s misinformation policy related to COVID-19 had consequences, including account suspension, in place for those that repeatedly violated it. A number of high-profile names had their account suspended as a result. One of those who had their account suspended due to the policy was Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA.) Since Musk’s takeover of Twitter, Greene’s account has been reinstated.