Musicians in the guitar-sphere have been speaking out against billionaire Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter, and his decision to restore the account of everyone’s favourite ex-president and golf-enthusiast, Donald Trump.

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Since Musk took over the site, there has been backlash surrounding his stance on “free speech” and a variety of changes to the application such as a paid subscription service to “Twitter Blue” (a blue tick which is said to show someone is “official”, this has been free and available to users to apply for by following a series of checks).

The most recent controversy (at press time) to engulf the site is the fact that previously banned members of Twitter have had their accounts restored. Donald Trump has not returned to the platform, but his account has been reinstated. He was initially banned for his role in the deadly 6 January capitol riots. Musician Kanye West has also had his Twitter restored, after being suspended from the platform for spreading antisemitic hatred.

Given that Twitter provides a prominent platform for interactions between musicians and fans, as well as a key role in music promotion, many artists are pretty pissed off. Twitter users far and wide now prepare to abandon ship, but many aren’t leaving without having their say.

Take a look at some of the biggest guitarists in the industry sharing their thoughts below:

Tom DeLonge of Blink-182 has been a regular commentator on the situation, and has recently admitted he may be walking away from the platform too.

Under 8 diff grand jury’s for treason, crimes of humanity, money laundering, espionage, rape and RICO. Wtf is @elonmusk doing? Why would he position himself alongside something like this? https://t.co/b8r7wIk7vr

— Tom DeLonge (@tomdelonge) November 20, 2022

Elon is a trail blazer holding massive insecurities. His desire to be funny, and cool is loud. He is seemingly most moved by, literally, people just liking him? It now seems like a disease to me? But supporting this racist, treasonous fuck makes me want vomit and quit Twitter. https://t.co/a8HYX1NN1v

— Tom DeLonge (@tomdelonge) November 20, 2022

Jack White has lashed out in a lengthy Instagram post:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jack White (@officialjackwhite)

The criticism of the site comes as stories of internal chaos at the company proliferate. BBC News has reported that large numbers of staff chose to quit, after Musk called on them to sign up for “long hours at high intensity” or leave. Thousands were also said to have been affected by mass-layoffs, with many former employees sharing how they suddenly had their work laptops locked, and were booted from the company Slack.

The swathes of engineers either quitting or being laid off have lead many to speculate about the site’s longevity, and technical resilience. Some systems already appear to have been compromised: Forbes reports that Twitter’s copyright strike system has failed, allowing users to upload full films. One user hit viral fame when they uploaded the entirety of The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift across 50 tweets, split into in two-minute chunks. This thread was taken down, seemingly because of its virality: other threads sharing copyrighted material remain.

The Musk acquisition of Twitter has caused controversy right from the start. Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai Tweeted back in April: “I know we’re at hot take saturation at this point but it has to be said that a red pill billionaire douche bag buying twitter is beyond terrible on every level possible.”

I know we’re at hot take saturation at this point but it has to be said that a red pill billionaire douche bag buying twitter is beyond terrible on every level possible.

— stuart braithwaite (@plasmatron) April 25, 2022

Also back in April, Paul Stanley of Kiss suggested that Musk could have used the money to aid world hunger or fund a cure for cancer instead in this Tweet:

I May Be Missing Something (please tell me). Rather than funding a personal acquisition, Wouldn’t our world be better advanced by using far less than 44 BILLION DOLLARS to eradicate world hunger?, cure cancer? The list is long & the possibilities endless. https://t.co/gy3OiQdZNI

— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) April 26, 2022

If you’re one of the many users set to abandon the platform, you’ll be able to find us on Instagram and Facebook.