Halifax council orders staff report on possibility of removing X as social platform for municipality

Halifax Regional Council has taken a step toward permanent backing away from X.

Residents who use X (formerly known as Twitter) to get information from the Halifax Regional Municipality may have to soon look elsewhere as council has ordered a staff report to look at the feasibility of removing the app as one of their official social media platforms.

Councillor Laura White brought forth the motion during a regular council meeting on Tuesday. It passed 13-to-three.

“It is very clear that platform goes against our municipal values of evidence-based decision making and diversity, equity, inclusion & accessibility, to name a few,” the motion reads. “X is no longer a medium that many reputable organizations are comfortable associating with.

“The staff report should provide a timeline of when HRM will be off the social media platform X and provide alternate options to distribute information to residents including looking at other social media platforms that we currently do not use.”

White noted a decline in the platform since Elon Musk purchased it in 2022.

“It’s less informative, less useful,” she said. “You can no longer look at the posts on this site without logging in. It’s less accessible.”

Councillor Trish Purdy, who noted she doesn’t use X, voted against the motion, stating that council should not make “political moves” such as the one described in the motion.

“I believe we are to be neutral,” she said.

Councillor Nancy Hartling, who voted for the motion, said with Musk’s close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, she feels the platform is now “entirely political.”

“We aren’t the ones who started it,” she said. “I can’t open X at this moment and not get bombarded with Donald Trump. It’s 100 per cent political.”

Councillor Jean St-Amand voted for the motion, but expressed some trepidation about it.

“Social media grew up around me complete with tentacles and fur and nasty teeth,” he said. “I completely understand the sentiment here; I’m curious if we’re risking a degree of tunnel vision in looking at one platform.

“There is no perfect answer here.”

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