Before judging a football club for making a drastic decision, it is important to understand their reasoning behind it. For St. Pauli of the Bundesliga, saying goodbye to X (formerly Twitter) wasn’t difficult simply because it was headed by Elon Musk, a billionaire businessman with whom they didn’t quite align.
Based in Hamburg, St. Pauli has historically aligned itself with the liberal population of the country. Anti-homophobic, anti-racist, anti-fascist—the club openly identifies with these values, which resonate throughout the organization, from top to bottom.
Needless to say, they oppose hate speech, something the board believes both Musk and former American President Donald Trump have been guilty of. A statement released by St. Pauli on Thursday morning read:
“Since taking over Twitter, as the platform was previously known, Musk has converted X into a hate machine. Racism and conspiracy theories are allowed to spread unchecked and even curated. Insults and threats are seldom sanctioned and are sold as freedom of speech.”
But that’s not all. St. Pauli didn’t abandon their social media engagement on X just because they disagree with Musk’s views. Their decision is also closely tied to the upcoming elections in the German Bundestag early next year.
The Bundesliga club, currently 16th in the league, has accused Musk of using hate speech and racism to support Donald Trump’s bid to become America’s 48th president. Likewise, they are concerned that the South-African-born CEO might attempt something similar in Germany using X.
As of Thursday, St. Pauli has moved its social media activity from X to BlueSky, a recently launched platform gaining traction. Will other German clubs follow? That remains to be seen.
