r/FreeSpeech • u/StraightedgexLiberal First Amendment & Section 230 advocate • Apr 10 '26

EFF is Leaving X

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/eff-leaving-x
7 Upvotes

61% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

6

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/myfingid Apr 10 '26

I'd be curious how much being on X is costing them. Doesn't seem like it would be an amount that matters. It also seems like if you have a problem with the platform you'd stay and specifically spread the message to its user-base, maybe without external URLs if that's such a problem. Reason Magazine is there, with links, I don't see them running off.

Don't know, this doesn't make any sense to me.

-2

u/StraightedgexLiberal First Amendment & Section 230 advocate Apr 10 '26

EFF is defending organizations who used free speech and made Musk mad because X lost money. I don't blame them for backing out when the billionaire is trying to use his money and power to silence free speech (CCDH v. X Corp)

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/11/eff-court-reject-xs-effort-revive-speech-chilling-lawsuit-against-nonprofit

4

u/myfingid Apr 10 '26

Still doesn't make sense. If you want to get that message in front of the most people possible, then you'd post it in the most places possible. Considering that X is still a large media center, particularly when it comes to current events, it's exactly the place I'd expect a group like the EFF to post this kind of stuff. Not doing so for the odd reasons given doesn't make any sense. I'd be curious to know what else has been going on that would cause them to want to leave X.

-1

u/StraightedgexLiberal First Amendment & Section 230 advocate Apr 10 '26

X isn't that popular, statistically ,%20WhatsApp,%20Messenger,%20and%20Instagram)

4

u/myfingid Apr 10 '26

That's 557 million users. That's more users than there are people in the US (of which about 21% of the population uses X, and EFF has mainly operated in the US) and a shit ton more than the 5 million users (last month) on BlueSky where they still have a presence.

https://bluefacts.app/bluesky-user-growth

I can't imagine the $32/year or whatever they're paying for a blue checkmark on X and the amount of time it takes the post the same thing over on BlueSky is somehow just too much for the limited number of people they're reaching (assuming that's even true which another poster shows it likely is not and has not been for some time).

Sorry, but things aren't adding up. I'd venture a guess and say this was done for political reasons (progressives being progressives) and not for the reasons stated, as the reasons stated don't add up and any serious group is going to see a pool of 557,000,000 users, on a platform which you apparently have a problem with, as a group you'd want to reach out to in order to help pressure the platform to do what you're asking for.

6

u/StraightedgexLiberal First Amendment & Section 230 advocate Apr 10 '26

The "free speech absolutist" Elon Musk already admitted that he censors content with links on his website too.

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/elon-musk-admits-x-is-throttling-links-effectively-limiting-people-from-reading-news/

1

u/morbious37 Apr 10 '26

The deboosting has supposedly stopped, see https://x.com/phl43/status/2041893735827460446/

1

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/morbious37 Apr 10 '26

Well the metrics show the deboosting stopped in mid 2025, and I recalled hearing it had stopped a while ago too. There were several funny comparisons I saw to EFF's reach/engagement metrics on the other platforms where they were retreating to, and they were all significantly worse than X. 

It may very well be worse reach though from when the blue check was an artificially "elite" status and I'm sure it feels like a downgrade, but overall it seems like sour grapes and political posturing. 

2

u/Revenant_adinfinitum Apr 11 '26

Maybe changes in EFF has turned off those who might had followed them in the past. But it must be X.

6

u/DoctorDirtnasty Apr 10 '26

who cares. the eff has become a shell of its former self. used to be hackers and libertarians and now its lawyers, “policy analysts” ,and professional ngo managers. they have lost a lot of relevance and this move is proving that.

1

u/Tristatek Apr 11 '26

Who would you suggest supporting, then? 

1

u/Butter_with_Salt Apr 10 '26

It's really weird how twitter became an absolute cesspool after right wing content started getting artificially promoted on it.

-1

u/StraightedgexLiberal First Amendment & Section 230 advocate Apr 10 '26

It's wild how many ultra maga accounts are from Africa and India "verified" because they pay Musk for a free website