Stephen King Ditches ‘Toxic’ X, Joins Growing List of Boycotters

Another day, another big name leaving X. This time it’s Stephen King, with the “Pet Sematary” author saying he is abandoning the Elon Musk-owned platform because it has become “too toxic” following the election.

“I’m leaving Twitter,” King said on Thursday night, while referring to X by its old name. “Tried to stay, but the atmosphere has just become too toxic. Follow me on Threads, if you like.”

King’s X account, which has 7 million followers, was still active on Friday morning; others who have announced their departure recently, like MSNBC’s Joy Reid, have deactivated their accounts.

The writer’s exit from X adds to a growing number of disgruntled celebrities and media members who have fled the app in the past week. Besides the aforementioned Reid, Former CNN host Don Lemon bid farewell to X on Wednesday, and MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace and actress Jamie Lee Curtis have also ditched the app.

King has been an outspoken critic of president-elect Donald Trump on X for years, so his departure likely has something to do with Musk being Trump’s most vocal supporter in the lead-up to the 2024 election. Musk helped Trump court voters in Pennsylvania and spent more than $100 million via his America PAC to help the Republican get back in the White House. The Tesla and X boss was also named the co-head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by Trump on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, King responded to a post from Musk saying Vice President Kamala Harris “wants to break the Constitution,” with the author saying, “That’s ridiculous. As usual.”

King joining Threads comes as the Meta-owned platform has enjoyed healthy growth since the election, as left-leaning X users seek alternatives to Musk’s platform. Threads has seen a 6.8% jump in daily users since the election; it now has 11 million daily active users, according to data shared with TheWrap by Sensor Tower. Bluesky, another social posting rival to X, has also enjoyed a post-election user surge — one that pushed it to the top of Apple’s App Store on Thursday.

And even with the big names leaving the app, X has still seen its daily user base increase 5% after the election, according to Sensor Tower’s data.

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