Another major sporting body boycotts X, citing its descent into the 'gutter' under Elon Musk

The London Marathon joined the trend of boycotting social networking platform X, formerly known as Twitter, with event director Hugh Brasher accusing the website of “descending into a gutter” ever since Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk acquired the website in 2022.

Brasher’s description of X and the event’s boycott of the website was a response to the online abuse directed towards British athlete Eilish McColgan, who has been described as someone “looking like a skeleton” after posting videos of her training ahead of the race this Sunday.

“I think it’s abhorrent the abuse that she’s had. How she has held herself and responded to that is exemplary. But there are some social media channels that are particularly vitriolic and are descending into a gutter. And as a result of that, London Marathon events have actually come off one of those channels," Brasher was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

“It is off the back of just looking at that channel and the vitriol. It was ceasing to be a rational conversation. It was ceasing to be a positive place to be,” he added.

London Marathon was meant to be a ‘force for good’: Brasher

The London Marathon was founded in 1981 by Brasher’s father Chris and John Disley, both of whom were track and field athletes. And according to the event director, their aim was for London Marathon to be a “force for good”.

“One of the aims of my father and John was to show that on occasion, the family of humankind could be joyous together and celebrate together. That’s what the London Marathon is about. It is a force for good. And we didn’t feel that channel shared those values, and therefore we have come off," he added.

London Marathon have 191,000 followers on X and have not posted on the website for three months. The London Marathon Foundation, which has slightly more than 1,000 followers, has also joined the boycott of the micro-blogging platform.

Hamburg-based Bundesliga club FC St Pauli had become the first major football team to boycott X in November last year. Since their boycott, the club has moved to rival platform BlueSky, founded by Jack Dorsey, who had also founded Twitter in 2007.

British newspaper The Guardian, too had quit the website that month, describing X as a “toxic media platform”.