Why Some Alt-Platform Users Still Support Leaving X/Twitter
Despite Elon Musk’s efforts toward a “free speech” rebrand, some alt-platform users support leaving X/Twitter or won't return to the site.
TLDR
Despite Elon Musk’s efforts to make X (formerly Twitter) a “free speech” platform, some users of alt-platforms—marketed as safe havens from content moderation policies—have still refused to return to the site.
Open Measures found that chatter from alt-platforms users stating they had left X and/or would not return peaked during periods when Musk was publicly contradicting or arguing with President Donald Trump.
Alt-platform users who said they would not return to X cited displeasure with Musk’s online behaviors toward Trump, alleged that X was still suppressing their posts, and claimed that X’s discourse was too toxic for their tastes.
Background
For years, alt-platforms served as clearinghouses for the distribution of content forbidden on mainstream services: hate speech, extremist propaganda, violent rhetoric, and other online harms.1 Marketing campaigns for alt-platforms often made explicit or implied attempts to attract content creators and users who had been penalized or were otherwise frustrated with increased content moderation on more mainstream platforms. That began to change after Elon Musk, the billionaire tech CEO, purchased Twitter in 2022 and enacted sweeping changes to the platform (including changing its name to X) in the name of promoting free speech.2
In short order, Musk slashed staff, dismantled content moderation teams, and reversed thousands of account suspensions, opening the platform back up to fringe communities previously exiled from the service.3 But while Musk’s changes to X have attracted countless fringe and extremist figures and their audiences back to the platform, alt-platforms have also remained active sites of online political discourse.
To better understand why some alt-platform users have refused to return to X after Musk’s policy changes, Open Measures analyzed sentiments on similar alt-platforms with micro-blogging interfaces: Gab, Gettr, and Truth Social.
Methodology
To begin, our researchers used Open Measure’s Timeline tool with a focus on the alt-platforms Gab, Gettr, and Truth Social, limiting the analysis to posts made in the past year (from August 2024 to August 2025). To find a sizable sample of posts on each platform that expressed negative attitudes toward X or a preference for its alternatives, we conducted a search using a long string of keywords designed to be as inclusive as possible. Our researchers’ final search string is included below:
((“leave x” OR “left x” OR “leaving x” OR “delete x” OR “deleted x” OR “deleting x” OR “uninstall x” OR “uninstalled x” OR “uninstalling x” OR “remove x” OR “removed x” OR “removing x” OR “hate x” OR “hated x” OR “hating x” OR “ditch x” OR “ditched x” OR “ditching x” OR “quit x” OR “quitting x” OR “leave twitter” OR “left twitter” OR “leaving twitter” OR “delete twitter” OR “deleted twitter” OR “deleting twitter” OR “uninstall twitter” OR “uninstalled twitter” OR “uninstalling twitter” OR “remove twitter” OR “removed twitter” OR “removing twitter” OR “hate twitter” OR “hated twitter” OR “hating twitter” OR “ditch twitter” OR “ditched twitter” OR “ditching twitter” OR “quit twitter” OR “quitting twitter” OR “abandon x” OR “abandoned x” OR “abandoning x” OR “done with x” OR “sick of x” OR “tired of x” OR “fed up with x” OR “boycott x” OR “boycotting x” OR “boycotted x” OR “deactivate x” OR “deactivated x” OR “deactivating x” OR “cancel x” OR “cancelled x” OR “cancelling x” OR “goodbye x” OR “bye x” OR “farewell x”) NOT (“omar” OR “talib” OR “media”))
Once we had sampled our Gab, Gettr, and Truth Social datasets this way, we also analyzed the posts for any platform-specific sentiments or contrasts (to determine whether users on different alt-platforms were citing different reasons for continuing to abstain from using X).
Analysis
Using Open Measures’ Gab, Gettr, and Truth Social datasets, our researchers observed the highest volume of posts containing our keywords the week of November 11, when alt-platform users were commenting on the media coverage of liberal users' exodus from X to Bluesky after President Donald Trump won re-election on Nov 5, 2024.4
Apart from the shared activity above related to media commentary, there were three additional and sharp activity spikes (again observed on all three platforms). One occurred in late December, when Musk joined Republican politician Vivek Ramaswamy to defend the usefulness of the H1-B visa program against hardline anti-immigrant Trump supporters.5 The other two were in early June and July, as Musk and Trump publicly feuded over a tax and domestic policy bill that increased federal spending.6
What follows are the core themes our researchers identified across posts in our dataset, with representative examples.
Disapproval of Musk
Across all three alt-platforms, pro-Trump users criticized X by centering on Musk and his antagonistic behaviors toward Trump. Many posts that followed this theme characterized Musk as erratic and disloyal, some of which also questioned his political allegiances.
From Gettr on July 6, 2025:
MAGA ALL NEED TO LEAVE X! To stay is to support someone who is clearly trying to destroy our President Trump! Shame on Elon!
From Truth Social on July 16, 2025:
I left X last week after riding out the rough times over the years. Elon has become too unreliable.
From Gab on August 20, 2025:
I can't believe Elon gave Israel control of his platform. Hopefully many people will leave X because of these Nazis. Elon deserves to lose it for giving it back to them.
Allegations of “Censorship”
Another theme we observed across platforms was users accusing X of still engaging in “censorship” against users not paying for the platform’s premium features. Several users alleged the accounts of non-premium X users were being suppressed.
From Gab on March 14, 2025:
On X, non-paying accounts seem to be gradually made invisible. After being banned from tweeter and returning under the Musk era, I'm disappointed.
From Gab on May 8, 2025:
ELON OR NOT......ITS STILL obviously a not a free speech site.
From Truth Social on July 12, 2025:
Elon ruined it. Unless you're already an influencer you won't get any visibility over there and he keeps locking people out and having them verify their account for NO reason, then automatically after you are verified you, and the minute you post something or repost, you get a notification telling your account will be labeled (which basically means shadow banned!). F*K Elon!
Claims That X is Too Toxic
A lesser but still recurring theme across platforms were claims that X’s discourse was too hateful and toxic. Users making these posts also often claimed that they found whatever alt-platform they were posting on more welcoming.
From Truth Social on August 8, 2025:
I’ve been on X for a while And I have to say it’s a rat hole being on X is no good for anyone. People have just become so disgusting that all it does is cause hate. So today I’m done with X it was better a while back now it’s censorship and bullshit
From Gab on July 20, 2025:
I’m super tired of X/Twitter; it’s toxic in so many ways, which is saying something coming from a Gabber…
From Gettr on July 21, 2025:
I left x never to return, I suggest you do the same! It to woke and toxic! Led by a drama queen!
Conclusion
Though Musk has sought to recast X as a “free speech” platform in order to compete with various similar alt-platforms, some alt-platform users have continued to refuse to return to the site. Our researchers found that posts expressing users’ refusals to readopt X spiked in close proximity to instances where Musk voiced public disagreements with Trump. Upon closer examination, the most common themes among these posts were concerns about Musk, content suppression, and X’s overall toxicity. These sentiments were exhibited by users across all three platforms Open Measures examined; no one platform seemed to tilt toward particular grievances.
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Tim Mak. “Across The Internet, A Game Of Whac-A-Mole Is Underway To Root Out Extremism.” NPR. 16 March 2021. Here.
Max Zahn. “A timeline of Elon Musk's tumultuous Twitter acquisition.” ABC News. 11 November 2025. Here.
David Ingram. “How Elon Musk turned X into a pro-Trump echo chamber.” NBC News. 31 October 2025. Here.
Luca Ittimani. “Bluesky adds 1m new members as users flee X after the US election.” The Guardian. 13 November 2024. Here.