Farewell, Twitter: Reflecting on Its Legacy and Why It No Longer Aligns with Us for Uncharitable, words by Zoe Daniels
Written by Zoe Daniels, Communications Lead for JMB Consulting and Uncharitable. You can find out more about Zoe here.
This year, we’re levelling up our communications game—not just by injecting a burst of dopamine with colourful designs but by deepening our commitment to anti-racism. Even as the Communications Lead for JMB, I’ve had to face the reality that the role of communications in capitalism has always felt a bit uneasy. It often resembles a pushy salesperson, incessantly urging us to consume while simultaneously contributing to environmental destruction. Literally.
However, being the Communications Lead who is rooted in anti-racism means my priorities and goals are very different to those who work within the commercial realm. I’m not motivated by consumerism, nor the rest of my team; we’re motivated by making a liberated future a reality. And that means resisting the many arms of capitalism which try to grab us in more ways than one.
Resisting Technofacism
Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed a worrying trend across the interwebs. A trend sparked by fascist bros with severe mummy issues spewing violent misogyny across the many platforms attached to oligarchy. We know who these men are, and although these men are often positioned as the face of online abuse, it’s the men who own digital platforms who are responsible and who profit the most; everyone else is more or less a pawn in the political games that they play - yes, that includes you, Andrew Tate.
Men like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos have created entire worlds on the internet deeply rooted in white supremacy. Meta, formerly known as Facebook, before having a make-over due to the Cambridge Analytics scandal, was born from Zuckerberg’s incel state of mind when he developed ‘Hot or Not’, a platform where students were invited to rate other students for their attractiveness.
Contrary to popular belief, Musk may not be the tech revolutionary he’s often heralded as. Tesla wasn’t funded by Musk but by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Although Musk co-founded PayPal, he did not invent the mechanics behind the platform. Instead, he co-founded X.com, a direct bank that merged with Confinity to help form PayPal. He is not a maverick, merely a trust fund baby and a product of apartheid.
Also, can we honestly say that Jeff Bezos would be where he is today without the help he so graciously received from his then-wife, MacKenzie Scott?
At Trump’s inauguration, we saw a gathering of villains, the banquet of thieves. Of which included the aforementioned oligarchs. Zuckerberg, Musk and Bezos stood firmly behind Trump with their tongues out, lapping up every word, ready to exploit the moment. Zuckerberg quickly pledged his allegiance to the new government by removing fact-checking software from Meta’s affiliated platforms. In the same breath, he shared that he had set up Meta to honour free speech.
Now, everyone who has seen The Social Network knows this to be a lie.
Fostering meaningful relationships
Aligning our work with anti-racist values means challenging white supremacy culture, within and outside of ourselves. After much reflection (and a few memes), we’ve decided it’s time to part ways with X. Yes, we’re officially ghosting Elon Musk and his stinking pile of trash of a platform. Think of it as a "thank you, next," but with much more side-eye. Rather than shouting into the void, we’re redirecting our energy toward fostering genuine connections with actual humans.
This doesn’t mean we’ll be migrating to Blue Sky. We’re not interested in pumping more money into the tech billionaires club. Instead, we’re looking to reduce our digital footprint and find more creative ways to stay in touch with our community.
This year, you’ll experience this shift through our cute newsletters, bold ideas at Uncharitable, and heartfelt updates from our team. We’ll still be active on Instagram (but at a reduced level) and LinkedIn, but as for X… let’s just say it’s complicated. It’s partly because X has spiralled into a fascist cesspit under Elon’s leadership. But let’s be honest: X hasn’t been giving what it’s supposed to give. What was once a vibrant hub for connection has become a licence to spew hatred for the rich, powerful and the confused.
As for Meta, we’re watching and waiting, but in the meantime, we’ll keep our voice on there as an antidote to hate.
Twitter in remembrance
Before we officially close this chapter, let’s take a moment to reflect on what Twitter once was. What started as another tech platform became a global town square, a birthplace of movements, and a mirror to the world’s injustices. The Arab Spring unfolded live on Twitter. The first wave of Black Lives Matter emerged from its hashtags. The #MeToo movement exploded, exposing predators like Weinstein and shaking entire industries.
Palestinian journalists have shown us the lies and hypocrisies of Western Media through X; they have galvanised a renewed focus on anti-imperialism. On Twitter, we have seen protests that were never covered, perspectives that are never considered, and climate disasters that are a footnote in legacy media but spell a death sentence for us all.
Citizen journalism found its footing on Twitter, dragging receipts out of the shadows and holding the powerful accountable. And, let’s not forget, it excelled at exposing the far-right—often through their incriminating tweets.
Was it perfect? No. Was it messy? Absolutely. But in its chaos, Twitter was a place where we unlearned, relearned, and connected with like-minded people worldwide. For that, we are grateful.
We’d like to pay homage to the fact that Twitter is where BAME Online, now known as Uncharitable, found its voice, where some of our team members found one another, and where we connected with our community across borders.
So, here’s to Twitter: the good, the bad, and the downright weird. And here’s to creating something better—far from Elon’s misguided circus.
Here’s to bigger and better things in 2025!