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After misinformation led to far-right unrest and a rise in hate speech on X, some questioned whether it was time to close their accounts.

Employment Secretary Jess Phillips described the platform as “a place of misery”, while Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram said it was time for politicians to consider leaving the platform.

X owner Elon Musk used his platform to attack Prime Minister Keir Starmer after he wrote that “civil war was inevitable” in Britain due to “incompatible cultures.”

Mr Musk, who bought Twitter in 2020, made a number of jokes about British police, particularly the country’s handling of incitement to violence on social media. Responding to reports that a person had been charged over a post on Facebook, he wrote: “Is this Britain or the Soviet Union?”

Users who have left X in recent weeks include singer Paloma Faith and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital of the British health service NHS.

The number of active users of the app has been declining since Mr Musk took over in 2022 (and rebranded it from Twitter shortly afterward). In 2023, the number of users worldwide fell from 368 million to 359 million and is expected to fall again this year. The US billionaire has made a number of changes to the app, including adding a paid premium option and more advertising.

Google data shows that searches for “delete Twitter” and “delete X” peaked in the UK last week and remain around 200 percent above last year’s average.

Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram’s constituency includes Southport, where three children were killed last month in an attack falsely attributed to an asylum seeker on social media, sparking hate speech and helping to fuel far-right unrest.

He told Politics Home: “This is just disgusting. It (X) is really devastated and something has to be done.”

“The time is approaching when we all have to consider whether we should withdraw from this as a group and create another platform.”

Speaking about X at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the weekend, Ms Phillips said: “Basically I think I’m done with it now. I don’t want to fish in that pond anymore.”

She added: “I used to be massively addicted to Twitter. I have a very addictive personality. I was massively addicted to it.”

“The only power we have now over what is becoming a bit despotic is to stop ourselves from doing so. In this case, vote with your feet, not with pen and paper.”

Since purchasing the site, Mr. Musk has championed X as a platform for free expression.

How to delete your Twitter/X account

Before you delete your Twitter/X account, you must first deactivate it. This is easy to do on the mobile app or desktop, but the two are slightly different.

First, navigate to “Settings and privacy.” On desktop, you’ll find this under the “More” button. Then, find the “Your account” section. This should appear automatically, as it’s the top option. At the bottom of this screen, you’ll see the “Deactivate account” option.

A screen will appear explaining the conditions of deactivation. If you wish to proceed, click the red “Deactivate” button.

However, your account will not be permanently deleted at this point. It will remain deactivated for 30 days and only then will it disappear completely. Premium users can leave their account inactive for up to 12 months.

If you want to create a new account with the same username or email address, you will have to wait until the deactivation period has passed. To get around this, users can change their username or email address before deactivation so they don’t have to wait.

If you want to download your X data, you must do so before deactivating your account. Once the account is deleted, the data will no longer be accessible.