The Nation has never flinched from unabashed criticisms of people in power, and Jeet Heer's piece 'Who Will Stop the Elon Musk Coup' did not mince words. It described Musk as a 'shadow president' and 'co-autocrat,' and threw down the gauntlet, asking 'Is anyone prepared to end this coup?' We question back, will The Nation magazine itself lift a finger?

The article points out repeatedly that Musk is using X as a tool in this coup, such as when he went after bishop Marianne Budd on the platform. It is not just up to any politician or any institution, it is up to all of us to take action. This letter is to ask The Nation to live up to this responsibility as well. X is the bullhorn that Musk is using to dominate elections around the country, espouse lies and hate, and wield power. Its value also contributes a significant amount to his wealth. But X is only powerful if the rest of us use it too.

The TwitterExodus campaign (twitterexodus.org) is trying to organize people to leave X for Bluesky--a well-run platform that allows actual free speech and isn't a weapon of an oligarch. This collective action requires everyone to take part. On January 8th, we posted the following on Bluesky: "Hi @thenation.com, in the last hour you have posted five times on X but not at all on Bsky. We know you know the issues with X and its lack of support for journalism. It would be great if you posted here more!" On January 24th, after there was no reply, we launched our first ExodusAction, asking your magazine to prioritize engagement on Bluesky over Twitter. It has been liked 154 times and reposted 67.

Today, on February 3rd, The Nation posted 28 times on Twitter but only four times on Bluesky. Your readers will continue to use X as long as that is where you post your content. We understand that you have far more followers on X than Bluesky. We are not demanding you to leave just yet--although the Guardian already did. But at a minimum, please post first on Bluesky. At a minimum, use a tool like Buffer, which allows you to simultaneously post on Bluesky and X. We know you know the problems with X. We are just asking you to take one small step in the right direction. Supporting the TwitterExodus costs nothing. Supporting Twitter costs everything.