The Vancouver Island town of View Royal deactivated its X account this week in an attempt to “address the U.S. trade war.”
According to a Jan. 29, 2025 statement on the town’s website, the decision was made by Mayor Sid Tobias. Last week a Council Member Motion elaborated on the move, stating, “media reports suggest that Elon Musk, the head of Trump’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ may be using X / Twitter to amplify the US trade war, as well as undermining elections and amplifying extremist voices.” The motion cited CBC as its media source.
Tobias noted View Royal would be switching to Bluesky – a platform similar to X, created by Twitter’s former CEO Jack Dorsey.
As of Feb. 11 Bluesky had 31.3 million users as compared to X, which boasts 650 million monthly active users and 240-300 million daily active users.
In justifying his decision, Tobias called Bluesky more “decentralized” and “transparent,” citing misinformation and data privacy concerns surrounding X as additional reasons for deactivating the View Royal account on that platform.
With a population of about 11,500, the town had 1,875 followers on X. Its new Bluesky account lhas 163 followers as of Feb. 11.
While not a large presence on either social media platforms, Tobias said the move sends a symbolic message to all levels of government.
View Royal’s decision follows North Vancouver, which abandoned its X account in late January. Meanwhile, Vancouver and New Westminster are also weighing whether to leave the platform.
