San Francisco Supervisor and Democratic Socialists of America member Dean Preston has reportedly quit X, formerly known as Twitter, following attacks by the platform’s billionaire owner Elon Musk.
What Happened: Musk has posted three comments since Sept. 22 on Preston calling for the supervisor to be fired or imprisoned, terming him “the person most responsible for the destruction of San Francisco.”
Preston has now said that he would no longer use X, citing Musk’s calls for jailing him, San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"Twitter has been overwhelmed by trolls and disinformation since Musk took over. With the owner of the site calling for me to be jailed, it became clearer it was time to move to a new platform," Preston said, as per the report. Preston is now seeming active on Bluesky.
However, several X users have flagged that Preston continued to use the platform even after Musk’s criticisms and only took the call to quit as he was slammed online for his stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Background: Preston is a member of Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA. Earlier this week, DSA San Francisco expressed solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle against decolonization and condemned Israel’s occupation. “Violent oppression inevitably produces resistance. Socialists support the Palestinian people's, and all people's, right to resist and fight for their own liberation,” its statement read.
Preston himself put out a statement on Monday on the escalating violence, stating that he rejects the targeting of unarmed people without explicitly condemning Hamas, paving the way for further backlash. However, he later apparently indeed condemned the attack by Hamas, the media report said.
The billionaire entrepreneur, however, has not backed down on his criticism for the supervisor. Following reports of Preston quitting, Musk responded with a cryptic “Yes” to an X user who called for kicking DSA out of SF Democratic Central Committee.
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