Last Updated on April 27, 2025 by YGK News Staff
At their meeting tonight, council will consider a motion put forward by Councillors Conny Glenn and Lisa Osanic proposing that the city fully withdraw from the social media platform X.
As of February 1, 2025, the city disabled replies and direct messages on its X accounts in an effort to prioritize “positive communication”. The city noted a spike in spam and bot activity, as well as “inflammatory” and “abusive” comments from users, particularly after recent algorithm changes on the platform.
In addition to these reasons, the motion for tonight’s meeting added a significant drop in engagement and followers to the list. The motion also highlights a misalignment between X’s owner and “the municipal values of evidence-based decision making and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility”.
If passed, Kingston would join other municipalities like Cambridge and the District of North Vancouver in stepping away from the platform.
