A quick note regarding my social media

In late 2024, I phased out my use of the social media website previously known as Twitter; by November of last year, I completely deactivated my account. Though I spent a lot of time on Twitter since 2012, when I first joined to follow City Hall news, I found it to be less and less enjoyable, even as my follower count grew. The lack of moderation, along with the rise of trolls and bots, made it less useful; the purchase of the platform by Elon Musk, who changed the verification scheme to promote paid users over official agencies and quality posters made it even worse. Despite so many professional and social connections made through that social media platform, it was time to leave.

The time to leave Meta’s platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) has also come. Meta just changed its content moderation policies, including the “Hateful Content” policy, which according to Wired, “will permit users to accuse transgender or gay people of being mentally ill because of their gender expression and sexual orientation.” Its policies on disinformation have also changed for the worse. Mark Zuckerberg has joined Elon Musk in supporting President Re-Elect Donald Trump, whose own politics benefit from disinformation and hate.

Facebook was already becoming unusable. The ban on sharing actual news content in Canada (rather than supporting actual journalism) stopped me from sharing some of my own content on the platform, as well as expressing interest or thoughts on local news items. My feed was increasingly full of unwanted content such as “suggested for you” posts and an increasing number of ads.

But the latest decisions have made my decision to leave easier. I will be winding down my presence on Facebook, while deactivating my (rarely used) Instagram account completely.

You can find me here on this website, where I will continue to post my thoughts. I can also be found on BlueSky and LinkedIn, at least for now.