Romanucci & Blandin Statement on Leaving X Social Media Platform

Romanucci & Blandin believes fiercely in the Constitution of the United States including the First Amendment's freedom of speech. However, when free speech is distorted and abused, and the corresponding responsibility to tell the truth in that speech is ignored, we need to take a stand. It is a violation and a disrespect of that freedom to use a public platform to share information that has been repeatedly proven to be false and use the influence of the microphone to manipulate the public or public policies without transparency. In our view, freedom of speech is NOT the freedom to perpetuate lies.  The adage goes that freedom of speech is not freedom to cry "fire" in a crowded theater - when the well-being of the public is at stake.

For this reason, Romanucci & Blandin will immediately close our account on X, formerly known as Twitter, because of the devastatingly irresponsible and manipulative way its owner, Elon Musk, has weaponized the platform.

Musk purchased the Twitter platform in 2022 and renamed it X. X currently has 600 million monthly users - that's one in five Americans - and Musk personally has 200 million followers. With access to that massive audience Musk has gaslight the public with statements about political neutrality. Actions, however, speak louder than words, because while claiming neutrality Musk has personally funneled millions to MAGA campaign efforts, appeared multiple times as a political supporter and is now being closely scrutinized for offering cash to audiences at Republican events to register to vote. At the same time, X has become an echo chamber for far-right extremist rhetoric, promoting voter fraud conspiracy, firing its own fact checkers, restoring the X accounts of white supremacists, removing policy language that prohibited bullying of transgender people, and a long list of other perversions of the freedom of speech.  Further, the "Election Integrity" discussion group on X is funded by Musk's personal super Political Action Committee called America PAC.

According to a September 2024 report by journalistic think tank the Pew Research Center, the majority of Americans now use social media as a primary source of news. Nearly 86% of people get some of their news through a digital device and 54% get their news from social media platforms.  However, given the relative youth of social media, there is disappointingly little oversight of content or ways to hold digital publishers accountable for their content. Therefore, we are voting with our firm's account and leaving X, not wanting to participate is this twisted discourse or be seen as quietly complicit with the platform's troubling abuse of its access to millions of people.

At Romanucci & Blandin, we stand for democracy and civil rights for all, including and especially the women in our lives, in our firm and as our clients and friends. We cannot stand by and pretend what's happening on X is business as usual or simply election-year rallying of a particular party's faithful. This is a complex, dark, well-funded and ill-intended abuse of the power of public speech. We ask others to closely examine their own participation on X and consider sending the same message to Musk and others that this type of effort to manipulate and misuse facts and the public trust has no place in American discourse.