Halifax Regional Municipality has made public its timeline for transitioning away from X and towards a newer social media platform, Bluesky.
The move comes after council voted to have staff assess the feasibility of moving away from the platform amid controversy surrounding Elon Musk and the U.S. government.
“In the past two-plus years since Elon Musk acquired Twitter (now X) the platform has become less congenial, informative and useful, and more toxic,” Councillor Laura White, who filed the motion, wrote in her reasoning. “X is no longer a medium that many reputable organizations are comfortable associating with.”
The city officially launched its Bluesky accounts earlier this month. As of June 22, the main HRM account has 5,200 followers.
Accounts also exist for Halifax Transit, Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency, Halifax Events, Halifax Parks & Recreation, and Halifax Planning. Halifax Water, Halifax Regional Police and Halifax Public Libraries, are not part of the transition to Bluesky as they manage their social media strategies separate from the municipality.
Starting on July 2, the municipality says most updates will be posted to Bluesky. The transition period will take place between July 2 and July 14, during which X will only be used for major service impacts and emergencies. On July 14, the municipality will cease to use X.