The Berlin Film Festival, more popularly known as the Berlinale, has announced that it will sever ties with the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, with which it has had a long 15-year-old partnership. The iconic film festival, celebrating its 75th anniversary next February 2025. It will formally bid adieu to the platform at the end of the year, i.e., on December 31, 2024. This is pretty much the opposite of how the festival is going to have to reinvent its method of communicating via social media.
On Monday, Berlinale shared the news in a brief message on her official X account, which boasted 133.9K followers at the time. It read: “The Berlinale has decided to say goodbye to X on Dec 31, 2024. Thanks for following us here all these years. Stay connected with all things Berlinale on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other websites. See you there! #Berlinale.”
Over the years, the Berlinale has utilized X to post updates, news, and announcements related to the prestigious event. However, the festival did not indicate explicit reasons for leaving the platform. According to some informants, this is linked to growing concerns over how X-Twitter has dealt with the problems of misinformation, hate speech. And injurious content since Elon Musk took over in 2022.
Ever since Musk took over the ownership of X. The social media platform came under a barrage of criticism regarding misinformation and a surge of toxic content. Several high-profile users and organizations have started to keep a distance from it, and that includes Berlinale. Adding to that, Musk’s loud and clear political involvement also joined in to give X the cloud of a polarized reputation. Especially when Musk showed support for US presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The decision of the Berlinale to leave X follows a similar move by Alberto Barbera, the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival. This year, Barbera said he would leave X because he “weakened” his desire to stay on the platform. X’s goals no longer conform to his own goals as a member. On the other hand, the Venice Film Festival continued with X. But the Berlinale has decided to concentrate its efforts on other social media platforms that are very popular.
In the future, also, the Berlin Film Festival will be reached via Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. As well as through the official website. “The festival reassuringly pointed out that it would, of course, remain connected with its worldwide audience without X.”
ANI