German soccer club St. Pauli is leaving the social media platform X, saying it has become a “hate machine” that could influence upcoming German elections. The left-leaning Hamburg-based Bundesliga club said Thursday said it was ending its activities on the platform formerly called Twitter,

German Bundesliga club St Pauli said on Thursday it was withdrawing from X because the social media platform had become an 'amplifier of hate' that could influence German politics.

St Pauli encouraged its 250,000 followers to switch to Bluesky, the rival social network championed by former Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey.

St Pauli Hamburg has decided to leave the social media platform X, citing as a reason that Elon Musk, the owner of the microblogging platform, has turned it into a "hate amplifier." "Elon Musk has turned a space for debate into a hate amplifier that could also influence the Bundestag elections,