Jamie Lee Curtis and Don Lemon are saying goodbye to X (formerly known as Twitter).
In an Instagram post shared on Wednesday (below), the actress posted a screenshot of her X account being deactivated. “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference,” Curtis captioned the post.
Though she didn’t specify her exact reasoning for leaving, her post comes amid President-elect Donald Trump announcing that Musk, who acquired Twitter in 2022, and Vivek Ramaswamy will partner on an initiative titled Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE,” in an apparent nod to “Dogecoin” and the “doge” meme) that would be aimed at restructuring bureaucracy.
Trump stated of the “DOGE” initiative, “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
Lemon also announced on Wednesday that he’d be leaving X. In an Instagram post (below), Lemon shared a statement explaining the decision. “I’ve loved connecting with all of you on X, but it’s time for me to leave the platform. I once believed it was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency, and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose,” he wrote.
He went on to cite new terms of service that will begin on Nov. 15 as another reason: “In addition, starting this Friday, November 15, X is implementing new terms of service, which among other things states that ‘All disputes … be brought exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas….’
“As the Washington Post recently reported on X’s decision to change the terms, this ‘ensures that such lawsuits will be heard in courthouses that are a hub for conservatives, which experts say could make it easier for X to shield itself from litigation and punish critics.’ I think that speaks for itself,” Lemon said before encouraging followers to visit his other social media handles for any updates.
Curtis and Lemon’s move also follows the U.K. publication The Guardian announcing that it would also stop posting to any of its official editorial accounts, as they “think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere.”
The Guardian said it had been considering a move to stop posting on X for some time “given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.”
Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, with the company later slashing its content moderation teams and saw an uptick in bots, racism, misogyny, harassment, scams, conspiracy theories, disinformation and pornography. As a result, advertisers left the company and revenues collapsed. The social media platform is reportedly now worth just $9.4 billion.
Nov. 13, 8:57 a.m. Updated with Don Lemon’s social media post.
