The ABC has lifted its Twitter presence to protect journalists from harassment and to cut costs, its general manager said.
David Anderson released a statement on Wednesday explaining why the News Breakfast, Insiders and ABC Politics accounts have been archived in recent months.
Twitter, which has been renamed X under its new CEO, Elon Musk, has become ineffective and expensive, according to the broadcaster.
“In February, we closed three program accounts, Insiders, News Breakfast and ABC Politics, with positive results,” Anderson wrote.
The only accounts that will remain on the platform are @abcnews @abcsport @ABCChinese @ABCaustralia.
Since Musk bought the platform for $44 billion in October 2022, security measures have been dropped and the site has become toxic, Anderson said.
ABC will shift its focus away from Twitter, or X, because of the toxic environment it nurtures, said general manager David Anderson
Twitter, which has been rebranded as X under its new CEO, Elon Musk (pictured), has become ineffective, expensive and unsafe for ABC staff
“There are multiple reasons for this decision,” Mr. Anderson wrote.
“Closing individual accounts helps limit team member exposure to the toxic interactions that are unfortunately becoming more common on X.
“Disturbingly, X has brought back his trust and security teams.”
Instead of adapting to the new atmosphere Musk has created, the ABC will now push their content on other sites such as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.
While still posting on their main @abcnews account, their media teams are striving to grow ABC’s TikTok audience, which is expected to be most beneficial for growth.
“The vast majority of the ABC’s social media audience is on official sites across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, with TikTok expected to experience the strongest growth over the next four years,” Mr. Anderson continued.
“We want to focus our efforts and resources on where our audience is.”
This news follows Mr Anderson sitting before a Senate hearing in May where he testified against X’s security for users.
Twitter, as it was known at the time, had become a “cesspool,” according to Anderson, who said he had to refer several cases of trolling to the police.
The director cited an assessment of whether the organization was doing enough to support its employees and said he was concerned about their public-facing workforce.
“We are coming to an abyss here, especially in the discussion of how to protect our people,” he said before the committee.
Things got especially bad during coverage of ABC’s 2023 coronation, in the aftermath of which star Stan Grant relinquished his position as host of their Q&A program.
The ABC’s Q+A host Stan Grant (right) announced in May that he would be taking an indefinite hiatus from the media, saying he had ‘had enough’ of the racism
On related broadcasts, Mr. Grant, a First Nations man, pointed out that the crown represents the invasion and theft of Aboriginal land.
The segment sparked about 1,800 complaints from the public, the Senate Investigative Committee hearing was told.
Hundreds of complaints were racist in nature, Anderson said, while others noted that the coronation discussion was worthwhile but ill-timed.
“Some of it was in good faith, a lot of it was not in good faith,” he said.
“I think the time for dignified silence is over, I think for our people we definitely need to give more public support to them and what we do internally.”
Mr. Anderson was joined in his approach by news director Justin Stevens, both of whom were concerned about the Indigenous staff as the Voice referendum approaches.
Mr Stevens explained that Mr Grant had been a victim of brutal racism while in office, but the coverage of the coronation led to a particular spike in racial vitriol.
“We are talking about a very large number and deluge of racist abuse and threats against Stan and his family over the course of several days,” he said.
Mr Grant has since received an apology from the broadcaster.