I wrote this article a few days ago, but I keep having to update it. Because things keep changing at Twitter. As of this writing, Twitter has banned people from posting links to competing social media channels such as Facebook, Mastodon and even linktree. This came mere days after he banned prominent US journalists. It’s been mad over there. And it’s no longer the platform I’ve come to enjoy.

In case you’re wondering what I’m on about — the Cliff’s Notes version is that Elon Musk bought Twitter for US$44bil and it’s been chaos ever since. Listing all the craziness that happened there requires an extensive timeline of events. Read it to get up to speed if you want to.

Since I need to hurry up before something on Twitter changes yet again, here are the three reasons why I left Twitter:

1. I hate bullies
2. I hate bullies
3. I hate bullies

In the beginning….

According to my Twitter account, I started using it in December 2008. Why I opened the account is a mystery; maybe it had to do with one of the most pivotal elections in Malaysian history, when the ruling party’s monopoly on power broke and the Opposition actually gained significant grounds. Like other Malaysians, I probably wanted to use Twitter to see what what the heck was going on.

However, after election fever passed, I didn’t really know what to do with Twitter. I lurked, mostly, using it as a tool to check on the news. I quickly realised that Twitter was the place to be if you want to be quickly alerted to emergencies, breaking news, and for many Klang Valley residents, LRT breakdowns.

I wouldn’t consider myself a Twitter fan. I am more of a very reluctant user. It’s not until I started blogging about personal finance in 2018 that I started using it more regularly, sharing content and talking to other Tweeps.

My intention was not noble. I wasn’t an activist. I didn’t want to change people’s minds. I just wanted to promote the articles I wrote on my blog. However, I eventually found fellow like minded writers. And I grew to enjoy my relationships with them. Well, whatever relationship we can have on an online platform, that is.

And while many people complain that Twitter was toxic, and chaotic, I got to enjoy the more peaceful side of Twitter because well, personal finance folks can be a boring bunch. (But we are nice boring bunch.)

Occasionally, I couldn’t help but be pulled into some of disasters/scandals/outrage that sweeps through Twitter periodically. I watched in fascination as Americans tore each other apart during the 2016 US elections. I even commented on then-president Trump’s outrageous tweets. I followed many conversations. Many of them heated and angry. I suppose that’s when Twitter began to change for me. It became toxic entertainment.

I found myself really helpless against the pull of trending topics, many of which left me exhausted and anxious. I just couldn’t seem to help myself. (Of course, the documentary The Social Dilemma told us that algorithms have manipulated our lizard brains, making us addicted and anxious.)

I couldn’t quit you, Twitter

I tried to quit Twitter several times. Sometimes I would delete the app from my phone a couple of times a month. But like a moth flying towards a flame, I reinstall it.

So goes my reluctant relationship with Twitter, the social media platform I use the most. (I have long neglected my Facebook, returning only very occasionally to post a cat video to reassure people that I am still alive.)

If I was disciplined enough not to peek at the Trending Topics page, I could comfortably exist in my personal finance bubble, untouched by the toxicity that Twitter was known for.

When Elon Musk took over, I was pretty sure I could still enjoy the peace of my bubble and ignore the chaos. Honestly, I couldn’t care less who owned Twitter, even if it was Elon, a man I viewed with disdain after reading his ex-wife’s account about their marriage.

But then, Elon’s takeover coincided with Malaysia’s 15th General Election. It was one of the most polarised, bitter and divided GE we’ve ever had, our version of the US 2016 Elections.

That was when I really really felt the consequences of the takeover.

The falling apart of content moderation meant that I was seeing more and more toxic comments. I was also going viral a lot, oddly. Usually for silly things I jokingly tweet about. One post was reshared over 12,000 times!

But going viral made me very uncomfortable because that’s when the trolls arrive. It doesn’t matter how mundane or banal the post, trolls will find a reason to poke at you. And it seemed far worse during that period.

And then it happened. I went viral for the wrong thing. As the retweets go up – 1000, 2000, more … I became increasingly nervous. And then, like clockwork, a troll threatened me.

For some reason, that was the last straw. Why was I enduring this, really? Why was I using a platform that exposes me to threats and insults each time I log in? And why was I using something that seemed to lure me, like a siren, to consume anxious stories?

I couldn’t keep coming to its poisonous waters and remain mentally healthy.

After getting the threat, I deleted all my tweets and locked my account.

I decided to stop engaging, but continued to use Twitter to read breaking news and updates from friends who have not left Twitter.

In the next few weeks, I watched in sick fascination as Elon Musk destroyed the platform and possibly, the company. He fired so many people that I’m not sure whether Twitter will be functioning for much longer.

One day, while casually reading a thread, I saw pr0n.

Child pr0n.

I couldn’t log off fast enough.

Reading stuff on Twitter was no longer a “harmless” activity.

I’ve had enough. I couldn’t do this anymore.

I was just so sick of being fed toxic content. I don’t know, maybe it was just my imagination, but my home feed became worse and worse the longer Elon owned Twitter.

Thanks for making me leave, Elon

I don’t consider myself a very idealistic person.

But I detest bullies.

I cannot support a man who viciously bullies his employees or anyone he deemed weaker than himself.

Also, Elon’s behaviour has gotten so unhinged that I seriously don’t even know what his end game is. He’s letting the Nazis, racists and bullies back on Twitter. He’s tweeting QAnon and White Supremacist codes and he banned journalists and anyone else that he didn’t like.

He maliciously implied that one his employees support child pr0n, which resulted in him getting death threats and having to flee his home.

He’s weaponizing Twitter and that makes me ill.

I was also sick that my data and engagement was being used by Elon to attract advertisers so that he can continue doing all this.

Yes, a part of me wishes for Twitter to be destroyed. But Twitter has been really, really important for Malaysia. I believe Malaysia’s political development of the last 10 years would not have been possible if not for Twitter.

Ideally, NGOs and government ministries should not be so reliant on services like Twitter, but most can’t even manage their own websites and keep it up to date, let alone manage an instance on Mastodon. Twitter is an easy way for them to communicate with Malaysia at scale, so I do not have high hopes that they will wean themselves off Twitter any time soon.

I also don’t think many Malaysians will join the #TwitterExodus — most are oblivious to Elon’s shenanigans and couldn’t care less who owns Twitter. However, I do wonder whether this will change now that you can’t promote links to other social media websites or risk getting suspended.

I have not deleted my account. Partly because I don’t want anyone to impersonate me. (I’m not famous, but you can never know!) But mostly because I know I’ll come back to Twitter once in a while just to check up on what the heck the government is doing. Or if the Kelana Jaya LRT line has broken down yet again.

It is sad that Twitter has come to this. I worry for Malaysia’s democracy if Twitter devolves into a mess, but really, I refuse to send another word of content his way so he can justify his nonsense.

I wrote about Twitter on my Substack

As a person who works with social media channels on a regular basis during my days as a content strategist/manager, Twitter’s meltdown is an endless source of fascination for me. I wrote two Substacks about the Twitter drama here:

Besides informing readers of new content on the website, I publish exclusive content on my Substack. I’m planning to share longer works such as my novel in 2023. Subscribe to my newsletter, Tai Tales.