The move follows a motion to full Council today which noted “widespread public concerns that X (formerly Twitter) now allows the promotion and dissemination of harmful and extremist content, including content that is unlawful, abusive or false.”

It was agreed that the council would continue to use the platform for the time being, but only for  the sharing of alerts that provide information that local residents need to know immediately, such as school or road closures, extreme weather events or other issues that impact on council services.

This was recognition of the fact that more than 59,000 people currently follow the South Lanarkshire Council main X account and rely on the platform, at least in part, for their information.

However, following a motion from the Liberal Democrat group amended by the SNP group, a majority of the Council voted to immediately cease the use of X as a platform for non-urgent, general engagement with the public, and to aspire to complete withdrawal from the platform.

Councillors instructed officers to encourage all schools and other council-associated X users to follow the Council’s lead, including setting up accounts on Bluesky using that social media platform’s self-verification mechanisms.

South Lanarkshire Council will continue general engagement with residents and others through www.southlanarkshireview.scot, Facebook and Bluesky, while undertaking a review of the council’s use and potential use of all social media platforms.