Leave X — Protect Democracy

QR code to this presentation and references

FediDay 2026 — Berlin

leavex.eu

What is Leave X?

Focus on Europe's elected representatives

Elon Musk publicly congratulating AfD politician Ulrich Siegmund on X

Why does this matter for democracy?

Public communication needs public infrastructure, not platforms no one voted for.

How dependent is our political communication on X?

Journalist and politician each telling the other to leave X first

Leaving Big Tech has a cost

What does leaving cost artists, journalists and small businesses?

X ~500M, Bluesky ~46M, Fediverse ~1M — approximate figures

They left X.

Don't tell them they chose the wrong exit.

WissXit / SciXit

Bridgy Fed

Open Portability

Many people who left X chose Bluesky, a rational choice: simpler onboarding, closer to the old Twitter experience, easier discovery, bigger reachable audience. Mastodon can create more conceptual and social friction. That's not an attack on Mastodon, but a concrete user-experience bias problem. Bridges can make different social ecosystems complementary rather than competitive. Tools like Bridgy Fed or OpenPortability may already solve part of the problem, sometimes the real barrier is documentation, onboarding, awareness, or perception of lack of support. Workshop-oriented question to leave hanging: there plenty of explanations. Why isn't the target group using it or decides for an alternative?

Effective Action Challenge

Time to get hands-on!

Do one thing this weekend that makes leaving X easier for someone else, or help Bluesky and Fediverse users act together. Three questions: who are you trying to help? What is stopping them from reducing dependence on X / Big Tech? What can you do about that this weekend? (Just an idea if fine!) Optional: does something that solves this already exist? if yes, why aren't they using it? Format: work solo, in pairs, or small groups, 20 minutes. No need to finish, pick a barrier, start, define next step. End of session: ~60-90 sec per group. Participate all weekend, not just in the room: post with #LeaveX, remote participants welcome. Write ideas together: https://pad.okfn.de/p/leavex Prizes: 1 Plushtodon + 3 books (On Tyranny, How Democracies Die, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism), Most Concrete Impact, Best Reusable Idea, Best Bridge-Building Action, Community Choice. Plushtodon goes to either Best Bridge-Building Action or Community Choice. Saturday night: shortlist, short vote until Sunday.

Get in Touch

Make fascism socially unacceptable again. Leave X.

Everton

Mastodon: @everton137@social.vivaldi.net Bluesky: @everton137.eurosky.social

#LeaveX Campaign

Mastodon: @leavex@mastodon.social Bluesky: @leavex.eu