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Many emergency services are rejecting social media platform X as the site’s controversial presence drives services to look at alternative ways to communicate with the public for warning, informing and community engagement.
Police forces, fire services and ambulance services have all begun to scale back their use of X, formally Twitter, with some choosing to ditch the platform completely. Since it was taken over by high-profile businessman Elon Musk in 2022, the social media site has been accused of letting misinformation run wild and becoming an increasingly divisive space.
X has become a well-established part of emergency service communications since its launch in the late 2000s, its instant publishing and broad reach useful for everything from warning and informing to community engagement. But it came under severe scrutiny following the violence that broke out over the summer following the attack in Southport, where three young girls were killed at a holiday dance club. It was criticised for allowing posts falsely identifying the attacker to spread and for giving a voice to extremists and hate speech.
The ongoing controversy and polarisation has seen the platform’s user numbers plummet, down by almost a third in the UK in the last year, according to the Financial Times. Engagement has also dwindled, as blue light services begin to look to alternatives such as WhatsApp and Bluesky.
News agency Reuters contacted all 45 UK police forces and British Transport Police about their presence on X last month. Ten forces said they were actively reviewing their presence on the site. North Wales Police said it had stopped using it completely in August.
“We … felt that the platform was no longer consistent with our values and therefore we have withdrawn our use of it.”
Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman.
Gwent Police told Reuters it was also reviewing its use of X because of concerns over the “tone of the platform and whether that is the right place to reach our communities”.
The Reuters investigation also saw 32 responses from ambulance and fire services, with nine saying they were actively reviewed their presence. North East Ambulance Service announced in July that it had stopped posting on the site.
Last month’s FirePRO conference for fire communications professionals, saw many services questioning the ongoing viability of the site. Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said it was retaining a presence solely for warning and informing purposes, as part of multi-agency response plans. West Midlands Fire Service also highlighted the dwindling user numbers of X and how they were considering alternative options.
Seeking social media alternatives
Social media remains at the forefront of blue light communications, with most services attracting significant followings on long-standing platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Many have also been building large followings on video-sharing app TikTok that now dwarf their audiences on the longer-standing platforms. South Wales Police has a 254,700 following on TikTok, compared to 210,000 on Facebook and 170,800 on X.
But the rebellion against X has seen agencies looking to new alternatives to reach their communities and audiences.
Paul Reilly, senior lecturer in communications, media and democracy at the University of Glasgow, told Reuters users were leaving X “in response to the volumes of hate speech and disinformation” and that organisations were “looking to reach those audiences moving with them to different platforms.”
West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service told the FirePRO conference it had begun using the Channels feature in WhatsApp as a warning and informing tool. The West Midlands channel currently has more than 700 followers.
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has almost 2,500 followers on its WhatsApp Channel, while the Metropolitan Police has 40,000. Bluesky, another site with a similar feel to X, is also being tested, particularly by a number of NHS trusts. But Threads, the X-like rival launched by Facebook owners Meta last year, has seen limited take-up or use among blue light services as yet.
X users on the wane
Social media experts say that user habits are changing and it was right that organisations should review the data about platform usage to make informed decisions about their communications channels. X now trails way behind the likes of Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok in terms of preferred social platforms and time spent on them. Although its 600 million monthly active users still greatly exceed the likes of Threads and Bluesky, despite their increasing growth.
Blue light services are not the only organisations to be reconsidering their presence on X, with charities and educational establishments also leaving the platform.
X was approached for comment but had not responded at the time of writing.
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