Health Unit ditches X citing ‘reduced’ value

The logo of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, displayed on a smartphone in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. Brazil's top court determined the immediate suspension of X in the country after its billionaire owner Elon Musk refused to name a legal representative for the social network in Latin America's largest nation. Photographer: Tuane Fernandes/Bloomberg

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is turning the lights out on its X account — at least for now.

At the beginning of the month, the public health unit announced the account was no longer active and would not be monitored while it instead focused on its other social media platforms on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

“This doesn’t change anything else about our communication outreach strategy,” said Ashleigh Atkinson, the manager of communications for WECHU, in an email to CTV News. “Should this decision change in the future, we will be able to return to posting on [the X account] again under the same username.”

A report to the WECHU Board of Health in September advised of the hiatus as it noted followers and engagement on the platform have steadily declined while the character count limit for posts created communication challenges.

“Not only did this require more human resource time to adapt messages, it also made it difficult to provide the most comprehensive information,” said Atkinson. “In some cases, this meant not putting the post on the channel.”

The report also highlighted the “politically charged environment” on the platform as part of its reason for deactivation.

Board members heard in the information report, recent changes to the platform have “reduced its value” for some public sector organizations; those changes include less confidence in content moderation, more exposure to misinformation and hostile commentary, and an increased effort to tailor content for the platform.

Elon Musk, the world’s lone trillionaire, bought the platform, then known as Twitter, in a US$44 billion takeover in 2022. What followed were sweeping changes to the platform, including an eyebrow-raising rebrand and controversial changes to content moderation.

In its review of X’s use, WECHU recorded a net loss of 402 followers while its other social media platforms have grown over the last two years. The investigation found only six of 20 standalone public health units, including WECHU, regularly used X to send out public messages.