The Town of Riverview could soon be moving away from a popular social media platform.
A motion passed at committee of the whole this week recommends the town stop using X, formerly known as Twitter.
The social media platform has faced growing controversy since its purchase by Elon Musk.
Coun. Heath Johnson brought forward the motion for council to consider in January.
“I do not believe we should be supporting a platform that is full of misinformation, hate speech and anti-semitic content,” Johnson said during Monday’s meeting.
“Riverview is a welcoming, diverse and inclusive community, and X is antithetical to those values.”
Deputy Mayor Stephen Gouzoules agreed, saying that continuing the platform gives it creditibility and validity a valid source for news information.
“The past four weeks since we’ve last discussed this have not shown me anything to change my opinion on the matter. If anything, the events of the last four weeks have made me more steadfast in my position,” he said.
But the motion’s approval was not unanimous, with four councillors voting in favour and three against.
Coun. John Coughlan said the town should follow the lead of Kingston, which has turned off replies and direct messages.
“There’s still 4,100 people use X in the town, and they’d still be able to get announcements and news and whatever, but the nasty aspects of X would probably be mitigated somewhat,” said Coughlan.
Councillor Richard Blackstock said he feels moving away from X is a “slippery slope” and believes it should be kept open for emergency messaging.
“If I’m prepared to cancel X, I must also be prepared at some point Meta, for example, Facebook and Instagram. They all share the same orbit. Also, worringly, Meta’s recent decision to scrap third-party fact-checkers,” he said.
A town staff report noted that X is not as popular as other social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram.
The town reaches about 100 to 200 people per post on X and sees an average of three engagements per post.
The report, submitted by Communications Manager Ashly Barron, also said they have not experienced an influx of comments or messages that are inappropriate.
“The primary platform for misuse by followers for the Town is Facebook, which is also our most robust and active user base,” said the report.
Riverview council will vote on the committee-of-the-whole recommendation at its next regular council meeting.
