Scores of universities and research institutions in Germany and Austria on Friday announced their intention to drop their presence on the online messaging platform X (formerly Twitter), saying its algorithms were opposed to a discourse based on scientific and democratic integrity.

The planned withdrawal in the academic sphere comes as the German government says it is also considering leaving the platform because it was having an "agitated and polarizing" effect on public political discussion.

On Thursday, the trade unions GEW, which represents educators and teachers, and Verdi announced they were deleting their X presence, as did the Federal Court of Justice (BGH).

X 'incompatible' with fundamental values

In a statement, the institutions, which include some of Germany's most prestigious universities, said that X was steering a course that went against their principles.

"The withdrawal is a consequence of the incompatability of the platform's current orientation with the fundamental values of the institutions involved: open-mindedness, scientific integrity, transparency and democratic discourse," a joint statement said.

It said the way X's algorithm reinforced the propagation of right-wing populist content while restricting other views made any further use of the platform by the signees "untenable."

马斯克魏德尔对话隔日 德国学术界集体退出X