Council's X boycott faces accessibility backlash

A city council has been accused of "pearl-clutching" after it decided to stop using X due to concerns about the site's content and the way it operates.

York City Council said it would stop posting on X following a rise in misinformation and divisive content on the platform, while engagement with council posts have declined.

Council leader Claire Douglas said changes to the site including ending independent fact-checking meant its use was no longer in line with the authority's communications policies.

But disability rights activist Flick Williams said the move would make it harder for people, including those with impairments, to engage with the council online.

The decision was made at a meeting on Wednesday and will see the council stop posting on its X account except during emergencies, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The council will keep its @CityofYork account to avoid people impersonating it, but others it runs will be closed.

The ruling does not affect individual councillors' accounts.

A council report stated concerns about misinformation and the amplification of extreme views had grown since Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and later rebranded it X.

The report added changes such as the replacement of independent fact-checking with a community notes system had made it challenging to use to site.

Council data showed that although it had 49,000 followers on X, more than on other platforms, other sources of information such as the authority's website were more popular with residents.

Douglas said the spread of harmful content on the site went against the authority's commitment to openness and fairness.

She added the move, and which channels the council used to communicate with residents, would be kept under review.

Douglas said: "We understand that this is a platform that's used by some people, but the amount of people who receive council communications on other platforms is so much higher.

"X has changed, we feel that given the shift in how it operates and the relatively low levels of engagement with the council on it moving to a situation where it's only used for emergency communications is a reasonable way to go."

But disability rights activist Ms Williams told Wednesday's meeting X was the most accessible platform for disabled people thanks to features such as screen reading.

She said a council assessment's justification for not using X on the grounds it was to stop disabled people being exposed to harmful content was infantilising and paternalistic.

Ms Williams said: "This is the wrong decision, social media platforms all have pros and cons but there are elements of this that amount to nothing more than pearl-clutching.

"X hosts a massive community of disabled people who can find one another and come together to share information.

"The decision has been framed in terms of the council getting information out but it's a two-way street, how will we be able to make the council aware of issues with photographic evidence such as obstructive parking and countless others?"

The LDRS has been unable to reach X for comment.

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