Chancellor Olaf Scholz apparently wants to leave Twitter
The chaos on Twitter also triggers unrest in the Chancellery. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is apparently considering leaving the social media platform and is looking for alternatives.
He is the first Chancellor on Twitter: Olaf Scholz. Next to his Speaker and Government Profile he has one too personal accounts. But now Germany’s head of government is apparently thinking about leaving the social media platform.
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Olaf Scholz plans to withdraw from Twitter
Like the German editorial network RND reports, the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Press Office have been observing the developments of the microblogging service very closely since it was taken over by Elon Musk.
Federal government uses platform to provide information about work
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in RNDPodcast “Geyer & Niesmann” that the Federal Press Office weighed up the development of the platform and possible alternatives when examining Olaf Scholz’s Twitter presence.
He and his team are tasked with providing broad information about the work of the federal government. To do this, they want to use as many channels as possible in order to reach users where they get their information anyway, Hebestreit continues.
Twitter is a pure broadcast format established by the previous government to reach the population. The Chancellor, for example, has 650,000 followers.
The federal government does not want to give up the channel immediately
One cannot turn a blind eye when problematic developments on the social network continue to flourish, Hebestreit explains in the podcast. Nevertheless, the government does not want to leave Twitter immediately.
“Giving up this information path immediately without having an alternative – which, for example, the Mastodon network does not yet have – would have been very short-sighted,” says Hebestreit.
TikTok no alternative for Olaf Scholz
It is certain that Olaf Scholz will not get an account on the TikTok video app. A test report from the Federal Press Office apparently convinced Olaf Scholz to refrain from doing so for the time being. It said that the federal government should think twice about being present on a Chinese platform.
Elon Musk throws Twitter into chaos
Elon Musk acquired the social media service for $44 billion in late October 2022. Since then, the platform has descended into chaos.
In addition, Musk claims to be the advocate of free speech. Critics fear that the amount of hate messages and fake news on the platform will continue to increase drastically in the future.
Stephan Weil is also leaving Twitter
Only recently, the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil media reports reportedly deleted his account. The reason for this is the lack of controls and verifications, which would increasingly lead to the mass spread of hate and hate speech, misinformation and conspiracy tales on Twitter.
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