We’ve been encouraged to leave Facebook for our own mental health and the sake of democracy, and with those same two goals in mind, it may also be time to give up on Twitter.


On August 17, Twitter users are organizing a social media walk out under the hashtag #DEACTIDAY. BoingBoing writer Mark Frauenfelder posted that his decision to leave is motivated largely by the platform’s refusal to ban Alex Jones, whom they’ve admitted has violated their official policies. Jones has long been spreading conspiracy theories to his many followers, and has encouraged the continued harassment of parents of Sandy Hook victims. He’s a horrendous troll, and Twitter’s banning policy has been inconsistent and confusing, as their CEO Jack Dorsey admits:


Jones and his Infowars channel have been blocked on Apple, YouTube, and Facebook, according to the Guardian, but Twitter is still holding out and no one really knows for sure why. But one working theory is that since the site has become more and more the domain of people with extremist and hateful views, they probably don’t want to piss off their user base.

So, why not deactivate on #DEACTIDAY? Those joining the campaign will deactivate their accounts on on Friday, and give Twitter 30 days to do something substantial about Alex Jones, and its general tolerance of bigotry and abuse. If nothing’s been done, the deactivations become permanent, according to participants.


If you don’t feel like leaving the world of Twitter forever is an option, Shannon Coulter, who co-founded Grabyourwallet.org, recommended in her own thread that people also try blocking the biggest revenue sources for Twitter, which she writes are Fortune 500 companies. Coulter even provided her own blocking list and instructions on how to use Blocking Together to prevent Twitter from making money off you—at least via ads from these companies:


You can also do it manually for each company, cross-checking with this list. There may come a time when you no longer want to be complicit in the world of social media, but while you’re still here, pressure companies to do the right thing by going for the thing they care about: money.