AFP on X Suicide Mission?

One must never abandon the battlefield of disinformation is the message we hear from management to justify staying active on X, no matter what the costs. Our public service mission is evoked in a noble cover-up for a moral disaster, that of continuing to legitimize a platform of hate after its owner gave not one but two Nazi salutes from behind the US presidential seal as the whole world was watching!

A courageous AFP, proud and true to its history
It is painful for employees to see their company bow to the ever more scandalous fantasies of the extreme right, even more so when AFP was founded by French resistance fighters from the ashes of a pro-Nazi propaganda organ. It is distressing to see some people constantly mixing neutrality and blindness, objectivity and indifference. Management quotes our statutes: “Agence France-Presse may under no circumstances take account of influences or considerations liable to compromise the exactitude or the objectivity of the information it provides.” SUD isn’t calling for a change in our editorial line, our ethical guidelines or the work of our newsroom. We are asking for the end of AFP’s activity on X. The choice to leave X in no way compromises the accuracy or objectivity of our information. Quite the contrary, it would affirm our independence. Our independence which is going up in flames as we remain attached to a platform that embodies the opposite of neutrality.

Supporting theft of AFP’s intellectual property
When AFP publishes on X, it creates content that generates revenue. This revenue, none of which is being returned to authors via neighboring rights because Elon Musk refuses to pay, is used to finance far-right political campaigns. AFP published a story on December 6 on Musk becoming the largest political donor in recent American history. The money stolen from AFP was used to elect Donald Trump and is expected to end up in the pockets of Germany’s far-right AfD party.

Journalists or influencers?
If numbers are so important, are we now influencers who must battle the dictatorship of the algorithm to make ourselves more visible? On a battlefield that X skews against us by selling its infamous blue checks to make it difficult for users to determine what is disinformation.
At the same time management reminds us that our clients are first and foremost the media. Our management talks about our leadership position in the media. Yet they don’t appear to be leading on this issue, with many media, including Le Monde, quitting X. Our management appears to be waiting. For what?
 
Lead the war against disinformation: yes but choose your battles!
Management has a penchant for martial terms regarding disinformation but doesn’t seem to recognize that choosing your battles is important. Elon Musk dictates the rules of the game on X with an algorithm that erases facts to promote his ideology. If our mission is now to fight disinformation wherever it spreads, why not also go to Gettr, Truth Social or Gab, the favorite social networks of the far right and conspiracy theorists?
We do more against disinformation by producing reliable information every day on a wide variety of platforms than by accompanying the richest man in the world to the bottom of the intellectual abyss that he is determinedly digging.
SUD has suspended publishing on its X account and urged AFP’s management in both December and earlier in January to do the same. Our requests were rebuffed. SUD once again calls on management to stop publishing on X.

Paris, January 23, 2025
SUD-AFP (Solidarity-Unity-Democracy)