Canada: It’s time to ditch X

There was an opportunity these past few weeks, amid a timeline of farcical peace prizes, political pandering and American expansionism, for Canada to stand with its allies and hold at least one corrupt billionaire accountable. Britain and Australia were debating banning X, said reports, and Canada was also weighing its options.

Instead, Evan Solomon, Canada’s minister for artificial intelligence and digital innovation, took to X himself to set the record straight: the government was not considering a ban. X’s owner, Elon Musk, immediately praised Solomon’s statement as a win for “free speech.”

Make no mistake: Musk is no friend of Canada and his endorsement of Solomon confirms that the Canadian government is making a mistake in not discussing a ban of  X. The fact that our politicians continue to freely use a platform owned by a billionaire who discredits Canadian sovereignty while filling feeds with violent, sexual AI-generated images of women and children is a moral and political failure. Our elected officials must do better.

Musk has pulled no punches, using X as a platform to urge Canada to become the 51st state for months. He openly mocked former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling him the “Governor of Canada.” Grok, X’s AI tool, previously did not recognize Mark Carney as the prime minister. And yet Carney and many other politicians continue to use a platform owned by a man who would see us annexed.

Previously, as Twitter, the site could be a place for politicians, policy makers and journalists to share breaking news and opinions. It was a sphere for debate, and for those inclined, shithousery. But that platform is gone, replaced by a pay-for-views site where far-right voices and political dissidents are amplified. Any value for Canadian institutions being on X is negated by bots and foreign agents looking to sow more strife.

X is also a threat to the privacy of Canadians as, in recent weeks, Grok has been used to generate violent, sexual images of women and children. Musk’s response has been to offer Grok’s image-generating feature to paying members only. This will not stop the site from being filled with pornographic images. But Canadian politicians don’t have to continue to use X as their words are increasingly flanked by AI-images of nude children. It cheapens our democracy and raises the question of why elected officials choose to use X in the first place when there are alternatives.

Although Canada’s privacy commissioner announced an investigation into X’s AI-deepfakes last week, it’s alarming that more Canadian politicians haven’t voluntarily left the platform or questioned its uses. Many will say, when pressed, that it’s convenient to use an established tool. But given today’s climate, where you communicate is as important as how you communicate. As a journalist, I previously used Twitter and then X for my reporting. However, with the obvious interference in our politics, not to mention the threats to our sovereignty, I made the decision to delete my account and start anew on Bluesky in 2025. The flow of non-consensual pornography has only reinforced that I made the right decision.

Others are starting to take notice. The Halifax Regional Municipality switched all of their accounts to Bluesky. Gander, a Canuck-owned social media app which stores your data on Canadian servers, is in the beta process as a response to American tech giants throwing around their weight politically. Change, albeit slowly, is starting to happen.

X, of course, isn’t going to get better and Canada should be a leader in these times in calling out corruption when possible. Some will say that proposing to ban X is an assault on free speech. But that’s simply the guise Musk is hiding behind as he pushes his agenda, takes your money and data and wields his clout.

Josh Healey is a freelance journalist based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. His work has previously appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Atlantic Business Magazine and more.