Carbonear joins the boycott against X

By Olivia Bradbury / Local Journalism initiative Reporter

The Town of Carbonear has joined the growing queue of governments, businesses and individuals pulling back from X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Council voted to deactivate the Town’s X account during a vote at its April 15 public meeting.
The social media platform is facing a backlash because of the controversial role of its owner, Elon Musk, in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Musk’s electric car manufacturing company, Tesla, is also facing financial headwinds from consumers, governments and investors.
Councillor Danielle Doyle, who chairs the economic development committee, laid out the reasoning for that group’s recommendation to council to quit X.
“We had some discussion about aligning ourselves politically where a lot of groups, organizations, municipalities, higher education institutions, and a lot of individuals, they’re moving away from the X platform,” Doyle said.
She noted the Town has not posted on its X account since early 2024. It has been using other social media platforms instead, she added, including its website, Carbonear Connect, and Facebook.
“We are going to recommend that the Town of Carbonear deactivate our X account just to follow suit with what other people are doing,” said Doyle.
Economic Development Officer Kerri Abbott said the Town has since set up an account on Bluesky, a competitor of X.
Doyle moved that Carbonear promote its new Bluesky handle. “We can post town events, information, etcetera, on there,” she said.
Doyle’s motion to deactivate Carbonear’s X account and promote its Bluesky account was seconded by councillor Peter Snow and passed unanimously.