If posting baseless conspiracy theory stories that gain tens of thousands of “likes” within hours (Nils Pratley on finance, 31 October) is Elon Musk’s idea of democratising social media, then I’m going to follow the lead of other European academics who have contacted me this week from Germany and the Netherlands to say that they are permanently unsubscribing from Twitter.
I’ve spent much of the last 10 years researching how best to educate young people into becoming safe, confident internet users, but this becomes more difficult every day. Academics and teachers need to let Musk know that his thoughtless and dangerous behaviour does not broaden democracy. Instead, it supports the view, already held by tens of millions of Americans, that if you don’t like the world that democracy has given you, you simply use money and violence (amplified by social media) to eliminate it.
Twitter is widely used by academics, but Elinet, a research consortium of literacy academics from 28 European nations, has already unsubscribed. Musk needs to learn what Kanye West learned last week: that social media actions have consequences.
Colin Harrison
Emeritus professor of literacy studies, University of Nottingham
• Elon Musk’s idea of Twitter as a digital town square is a good one (Editorial, 1 November). Having him in control of it is a very bad one. Something like the trust that ensures the independence of the Guardian would be much more appropriate.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London
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