Bundesliga side leave X and blast Elon Musk for fuelling hate speech and conspiracy theories

Werder Bremen have launched a stinging attack against after announcing their departure from .

The social media site, which was formerly called , has seen , with many celebrities and people with huge followings leaving for alternatives Bluesky, Threads and Mastodon. Musk is a hugely controversial figure who has made sweeping changes to Twitter since taking it over in October 2022.

Since rebranding Twitter as X, the Tesla owner has cut jobs and stripped back lots of the features of the platform, gradually turning it into his own plaything. the head of incoming President Donald Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency – and that decision has sparked a reaction on X.

Bluesky – a very similar-looking platform which calls itself “social media as it should be” – has picked up millions of new users in the past few weeks. One of those swapping X for Bluesky is German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen, who marked their departure with a statement which called out Musk.

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The club’s chief executive Klaus Filbry has made the stand following their annual general meeting on Monday. The club statement read: “Since Elon Musk took over the platform, hate speech, hatred towards minorities, right-wing extremist posts and conspiracy theories have been allowed to spread at an incredible pace, all under the guise of freedom of speech.

“The radicalisation of the platform is being actively driven by Elon Musk and his personal posts, which include transphobic and anti-Semitic comments, as well as the spreading of conspiracy narratives.

“Next to nothing is currently being monitored on the platform. The algorithms and decision making at X are entirely non-transparent processes. Additionally, Elon Musk is utilising the social network as a political weapon, as seen recently during the course of the US election.

“SV Werder Bremen are taking a clear stance against hatred, hate speech, discrimination and exclusion. The Green-Whites are proud to stand for diversity, freedom and democracy, as well as for cohesion and solidarity in society.

“With the recent radicalisation of the platform, a line has been crossed for the club. The Green-Whites are therefore leaving X effective immediately and hope that our more than 600,000 followers will follow the club on Bluesky in the future.”

Bremen are eighth in the Bundesliga, with four wins from 10 matches so far this season. They have won the Bundesliga on four occasions and are one of the most historic clubs in Germany, sharing the record for most seasons played in the Bundesliga with .

Bremen made history in May 2022 by becoming the first football club in the to join Common Goal – an initiative which sees participants donate one per cent of their income to charity. The club gives one per cent of its ticketing and sponsorship revenue to the social initiative, while chief executive Filbry was a founding member in 2019.

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