The Religious Society of Friends in Ireland, better known as the Quakers, are leaving Elon Musk’s social media network X, formerly Twitter, joining other Quaker bodies worldwide in their “Twitter eXodus”.
Will Haire, the Ireland yearly meeting clerk of the Irish Quakers, said that, “in seeking to continue to live out our testimonies of integrity, peace, equality and simplicity”, they had joined other Quaker bodies around the world in deciding to leave X and to “engage on other platforms where our values and concerns for our fellow human beings may be better heard”.
“This fits with the theme of ‘Ubuntu’ – humanity to others – which Friends throughout the world have been focusing on this year to mark the 400th anniversary of the birth of George Fox, founder of Quakerism,” he said.
Mary McNeilly, Ireland yearly meeting recording clerk, said that Quakers had found it “increasingly difficult to maintain a presence on the platform” with the rising levels of misinformation and harmful content since the takeover of X by billionaire Mr Musk.
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It “doesn’t fit with the principles that guide us in our everyday lives,” she said, and had been a source of “disquiet for many years” among Quakers in Ireland, Britain and worldwide.
“It doesn’t sit well with us,” she said.
Members preferred platforms such as “Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky,” she said, adding it was unlikely X would be “terribly put out” by their exodus.
Among Ireland’s smallest minorities, Quakers number about 1,500 across the island.
Founded in 17th century England, their beliefs are rooted in Christianity. They oppose all war and avoid conflict in daily life while working to relieve the suffering of others.
The first recorded Quaker meeting in Ireland took place in 1654 at the home of William Edmundson in Lurgan, Co Armagh.
Well-known Irish Quakers include the tea-making Bewley and biscuit-making Jacob families and jam manufacturers Lamb and cotton-makers Malcolmson.
Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer, was descended from Irish Quakers. In 1726 his ancestor, Abraham Shackleton, founded the Quaker school at Ballitore, Co Kildare, which was attended in the early 1800s by Ireland’s first Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin, Paul Cullen. The school continued until 1847.
A somewhat less celebrated descendant of Irish Quakers is former US president Richard Nixon, whose ancestors came from Timahoe in Co Laois, where he visited in 1970.
There are an estimated 350,000 Quakers worldwide.
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