Second Bundesliga club leave Elon Musk-owned X after St Pauli | OneFootball

Werder Bremen have become the second Bundesliga club to leave the social media platform X just days after St Pauli announced the same decision.

The German outfit bemoaned the effect multibillionaire Elon Musk has had on the platform since acquiring it in 2022.

They slammed the businessman for allowing ‘hate speech’ and other negative behaviour to spread on the social networking site.

St Pauli also expressed similar concerns after confirming their withdrawal from the platform.

Bremen Chief Executive Officer Klaus Filbry announced the decision at the club’s annual general meeting on Monday.

The Bundesliga side said in a statement on their official website: “Since Elon Musk took over the platform, hate speech, hatred towards minorities, right-wing extremist posts and conspiracy theories have been allowed to spread at an incredible pace, all under the guise of freedom of speech.

“The radicalisation of the platform is being actively driven by Elon Musk and his personal posts, which include transphobic and antisemitic comments, as well as the spreading of conspiracy narratives.

“Next to nothing is currently being monitored on the platform. The algorithms and decision-making at X are entirely non-transparent processes.

“Additionally, Elon Musk is utilising the social network as a political weapon, as seen recently during the course of the US election.

“SV Werder Bremen are taking a clear stance against hatred, hate speech, discrimination and exclusion. The Green-Whites are proud to stand for diversity, freedom and democracy, as well as for cohesion and solidarity in society.

“With the recent radicalisation of the platform, a line has been crossed for the club. The Green-Whites are therefore leaving X effective immediately and hope that our more than 600,000 followers will follow the club on Bluesky in the future”.

Bremen are one of the most successful clubs in Germany. They share the record for most seasons played in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich.

The River Islanders have been crowned German champions four times. They have also won the DFB-Pokal six times and the European Cup  Winners’ Cup once.

Bremen have had a mixed start to the season, winning four of their ten matches to be eighth in the league standings.

Their most recent fixture saw them beating Holstein Kiel 2-1 at Weserstadion in their final game before the international break.