SANTA MONICA (CALIFORNIA), Nov 5 — The Berlin Film Festival has become the latest to exit social media platform X, after the departure of Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera director in August.

In a statement posted earlier today, the Berlinale said it has “decided to say goodbye to X on Dec 31, 2024,” shifting its social media focus to other social media platforms, “with all things Berlinale on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and our website.”

The post does not elaborate on the departure from the platform, though many feel the political leanings of CEO Elon Musk, one of the most prominent supporters of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, was most likely a factor.

Since late 2022, when Musk acquired X (formerly known as Twitter), the platform has become increasingly open to voices from the right-wing and far-right, putting it at odds with European cultural institutions like the Berlinale, which traditionally see themselves as progressive.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Berlinale emailed a short statement stating: “After monitoring and evaluating Platform X, we have come to the conclusion to focus on other social media channels.”

Musk has not been shy about weighing in on German political issues, regularly re-tweeting and commenting on posts supporting the far-right AfD party and its anti-immigrant policies.

Earlier this year, long-time Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera publicly quit X, noting that he had “definitely lost the desire (already weakened) to remain on a platform, the objectives and purposes of which I no longer share,” a clear reference to the platform’s political shift under Musk’s leadership.