More than 80 French NGOs and organisations have said they will stop using the social media platform X – formerly Twitter – as of 20 January, the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration. They consider the site’s owner Elon Musk, a close Trump ally, a “danger” to freedom of expression and democratic values.

Eighty-seven groups advocating for human rights, press freedom and the environment expressed their concerns over the running of the platform in an open letter published by French newspaper Le Monde on 14 January.

The signatories include La Ligue des droits de l’Homme (the Human Rights League), France Terre d’asile, a non-profit organisation that supports asylum seekers, the charity Emmaüs France and Greenpeace.

“By leaving X, we are well aware of depriving ourselves of a communication channel to promote our actions, our struggles… to challenge, to raise awareness,” they wrote.

“But this tool, which was a new space for freedom of expression in its beginnings, has become a serious danger to it and to the respect and dignity of people.”

The signatories are critical of X’s “absence of moderation and the configuration of algorithms” which “promote the proliferation of hateful content and the circulation of conspiracy and climate-sceptic theories”.

The organisations, while inviting other advocacy groups to “leave X [in as great a number] as possible” said they would continue to communicate via other social networks, mentioning Bluesky and Mastodon.

Calls to boycott the X platform have been multiplying in France for several weeks, including from trade unions, public hospital networks in Paris, the Caen war memorial and media outlets including Ouest France and Mediapart.

Elsewhere in Europe, Germany’s defence ministry announced last Wednesday that it was suspending its activities on X, which it accuses of enabling the spread of disinformation.

The ministry said it “will no longer post proactively on the channel for the foreseeable future”, adding that “the fact-based exchange of arguments is becoming increasingly difficult” on the platform.

Last week, more than 60 German universities also said they were turning their backs on the site, expressing concern about its “anti-democratic excesses”.

“[Its] current direction is not compatible with the basic values of the institutions concerned – openness to the world, scientific integrity, transparency and democratic discourse”, the German group said. A similar move was made in by universities in Austria.