Marie Nilsson, the chair of Sweden’s IF Metall union and a vocal critic of Tesla, has announced her departure from the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. She is now encouraging her audience to follow the union’s activities on Meta’s Threads.
IF Metall’s Long-Standing Dispute with Tesla Sweden
The decision comes amidst a protracted dispute between IF Metall and Tesla Sweden, which has been ongoing for over two years. While Nilsson stated in comments to Dagens Arbete (DA) that her exit from X is not formally linked to the labor dispute, she acknowledged that the platform’s evolving environment under Elon Musk’s ownership influenced her decision.
“We have stayed because many journalists pick up news there. But as more and more people have left X, we have felt that the standard has now been reached on that platform,” Nilsson said.
Platform Changes Influence Union’s Social Media Strategy
Jesper Pettersson, press officer at IF Metall, elaborated that the union’s withdrawal from X is indirectly connected to the influence of Elon Musk’s ownership on the platform’s changes. He noted, “Indirectly it does, since there is a lot of evidence that his ownership has caused the change in the platform to be so significant.”
Pettersson added that while X previously held value for reaching journalists, politicians, and opinion leaders, this value has diminished as user engagement has shifted. “We have nevertheless assessed that the platform had value for reaching journalists, politicians and other opinion leaders. But it is a microscopic proportion of the public and our members who are there, and now that value has decreased,” he stated.
Threads Emerges as a Potential Alternative
Following their exit from X, IF Metall has begun to utilize Threads, Meta’s competing social media service, for its communications. The union has described this move as an experimental phase, during which they are assessing the platform’s effectiveness for outreach and public engagement.
Pettersson acknowledged that Meta, like X, does not operate under Sweden’s collective bargaining model. However, he emphasized that the union sees Threads as a necessary step to maintain online visibility. “In a perfect world, all large international companies would be supporters of the Swedish model when they come here. But unfortunately, the reality is not like that. If we are to be visible at all in this social media world, we have to play by the rules of the game. The alternative would be to become completely invisible, and that would not benefit our members,” he concluded.