B4Ukraine, a global coalition of civil society organizations working to defund Russia’s war on Ukraine, will stop posting on the social media site X as of January 20th, 2025 and fully close its account by the end of February 2025. X’s algorithm downranks posts related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while amplifying the spread of Russian state-coordinated disinformation and hate speech, rendering any further use of the platform untenable.
The decision to withdraw from X has been under our consideration for some time. While we continue to recognize its utility for collaborating with partners and delivering critical messages to our international audience, we have been deeply troubled by the platform’s direction in recent months. Instead of fostering the free exchange of ideas, the platform’s owner Elon Musk has leveraged X’s extensive reach to amplify far-right extremism and explicitly promote Russian accounts fueling the spread of disinformation, As a result, factual and democratic discourse on the platform has been further degraded.
After Musk acquired the site in October 2022, it quickly and severely limited the visibility of pro-Ukrainian accounts, including ours. This change has been noticed and reported by many users.
Under Musk, the restrictions on Kremlin-linked accounts were lifted, and efforts to limit the reach of Russian state media organizations were discontinued. Russian government tweets began to appear in X’s algorithmically-driven “For You” feed.
Elon Musk himself has repeatedly used his platform for disparaging remarks about Ukraine and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Musk calls Crimea — an illegally annexed Ukrainian peninsula — a part of Russia. He criticizes US aid to Ukraine and supports fascist parties in Europe with close ties to the Kremlin and Russian intelligence. According to media reports, X owner maintains regular contact with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, an internationally wanted war criminal.
While X/Twitter initially helped us reach a broader audience, at this point, we believe that the drawbacks of remaining on the platform outweigh any benefits. To abandon the use of this site is the right ethical and political decision, consistent with the mission of B4Ukraine.
Our research and communications campaigns remain open to all on our website b4ukraine.org and other social media platforms:
We invite you to join us in taking decisive action to block Russia’s access to the economic and financial resources fueling its unjust aggression.