Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera has announced that he is quitting the X platform in response to recent statements by Elon Musk.
“After the latest statements by the owner of Twitter (or rather of X, sorry), I have definitely lost the desire (already weakened) to remain on a platform, the objectives and purposes of which I no longer share,” Barbera wrote.
In a follow-up post, Barbera thanked his followers: “We will meet again perhaps elsewhere, in the spaces of the internet not yet enslaved to the ‘oddities’ of a single person.”
Barbera did not share which exact statements made by Musk had driven him to quit.
However, it is possible that the posts he’s referring to are the ones which have fanned the flames of unrest in the UK by spreading misinformation.
Indeed, the billionaire tech troll and X owner has spent the week stoking tensions in the UK - with one tweet stating that “civil war is inevitable”.
His comments which were criticised by Downing Street, but this has not deterred Musk from allowing misinformation to spread on X and continuing to argue that UK authorities are attempting to oppress free speech.
Critics have called for a travel ban against Musk for his series of tweets and repost to his millions of followers on X.
A Downing Street spokesperson stated that there was no justification for Musk’s comments, adding: “We’re talking about a minority of thugs that do not speak for Britain.”
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander stated: “Use of language such as a ‘civil war’ is in no way acceptable. We are seeing police officers being seriously injured, buildings set alight, and so I really do think that everyone who has a platform should be exercising their power responsibly.’’
Downing Street also reiterated that social media companies “can and should be doing more” to counter misleading or dangerous material hosted on their platforms.
The 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival will run 28 August - 7 September.
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