UK Universities Withdraw from X Citing Misinformation Issues

By Andy Bruce

(Reuters) - Universities and other higher education establishments have joined a retreat among British institutions from Elon Musk's X social media platform, citing its role in spreading misinformation that fuelled race riots last year.

A Reuters survey on Tuesday showed several universities have scaled back usage of X to the bare minimum or quit completely, following scores of academics who have left the platform.

The role of X, formerly Twitter, came under the spotlight in Britain last year during violent racial disturbances.

Musk - a close aide to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump - has since called for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be jailed and for anti-Muslim activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who co-founded the far-right English Defence League and is known as Tommy Robinson, to be released from prison.

Reuters surveyed X accounts of over 150 universities, their colleges and art conservatoires and contacted those that had made little or no posts in recent months.

They cited concerns over misinformation, content that promotes violence and declining engagement.

"London Business School continually reviews its communications channels and decides which to use based on levels of effective audience engagement," LBS told Reuters.

It last posted to its 182,000 followers on X in September. It is one of the top-ranked business schools in the world.

Reuters was first to report in October that several British police forces had quit X or cut their usage. The university survey points to a broader withdrawal among public institutions, even though many universities still post regularly to X.

At least seven of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges have stopped posting to X.

"We know this platform is becoming increasingly toxic, so we will continue to assess our presence on X and monitor emerging alternatives," said Homerton College, the university's largest in terms of student numbers.

The University of Cambridge told Reuters it continued to use X alongside other channels.

At Oxford, Merton College - the university's top-ranked college academically - has deleted its X account. It did not respond to a request for comment.

Harris Manchester - another Oxford college - last posted on Nov. 15 and asked followers to find it on other platforms.

The University of East Anglia said its audience engagement on X had plunged by 80%.

X did not respond to a request for comment.

Falmouth University last posted to X in September, while Plymouth Marjon University said it will no longer use it. London Metropolitan University cited falling engagement for no longer actively posting.

Buckinghamshire New University said X was "no longer a place where we want to encourage conversations with our university".

Some top arts conservatoires have also stepped away.

The Royal Northern College of Music said it was "consciously channelling its energy elsewhere", while London's performing arts conservatoire Trinity Lab deleted its X account.

The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama hasn't posted since August.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)