Stephen King leaves X and describes the atmosphere as ‘too toxic’ | Stefan King

Stephen King has announced he is leaving X after describing the platform as “too toxic”.

On Thursday, the author of The Shining and Shawshank Redemption wrote in a post on X: “I’m leaving Twitter. I tried to stay, but the atmosphere just became too toxic.” Referring to the rival platform launched by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, he added: “Follow me on Threads, if you like.”

This week, The Guardian said it would stop posting on X, citing concerns about toxic content on the platform. The German football club St Pauli, actor Jamie Lee Curtis, the American TV journalist Don Lemon and the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia have also announced that they will no longer post on the site.

On Wednesday, King denied that he had called X owner Elon Musk “Trump’s new first lady” or that the richest person in the world, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, had kicked him off the platform – with a response of “Hello Steve!” from Musk’s own account.

King, 77, has previously clashed with Musk over his ownership of the platform. Shortly after Musk completed his $44 billion (£35 billion) takeover of the site in 2022, when it was known as Twitter, King threatened to leave the platform after a report that it would charge users $20 to keep their blue verification check mark.

“$20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me. If that is implemented, I will be gone just like Enron,” he wrote.

King also reprimanded Musk during the presidential election campaign, with the Tesla CEO using his account to support Trump’s candidacy. In response to a claim from Musk on As usual.”

On Wednesday, The Guardian said it would no longer post from its official accounts because the benefits of being on the site outweighed the negatives, citing the “often disturbing content” found on it.

St Pauli, a team in the top division of the German Bundesliga, announced on Thursday that it would no longer use the site, describing the social media site as a “hate machine”. La Vanguardia, Spain’s fourth most read newspaper for general news, also said it would stop posting on X because it had become an “echo chamber” for disinformation and conspiracy theories.

Lee Curtis announced her departure on Instagram: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference.” Lemon said X is no longer a place for “honest debate and discussion, transparency and freedom of expression.”

The Center for Countering Digital Hate also stopped using will be beneficial for Musk.

X-rival Bluesky has added more than 1 million new users since the US election and has almost 15 million users worldwide, up from 9 million in September, the company said.

X has been contacted for comment.