_{Celebrity departures from Elon Musk’s X spark debate over the platform's future. (Image: Peter Kováč / Alamy)}

Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephen King, Barbra Streisand, and now Gabrielle Union are among the celebrities who are part of a mass X-odus on social media.

Following Donald Trump's election as the US President and his appointment of Elon Musk—the owner of X, formerly Twitter—to his federal government, several from the world of celebrity, journalism, sport, and more have quit the social media platform.

More than 115,000 users in the US deactivated their X accounts the day after the election, according to digital intelligence platform Similarweb, and that only includes those who did so via the website rather than via mobile.

The Guardian newspaper is among the news organisations that have X-ited the site, admitting in a statement that they think "the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives," while world-renowned author King claimed the atmosphere on the social media platform has "become too toxic."

German professional football club St. Pauli didn't hold back when explaining why they were withdrawing from X.

They said in a statement: "Elon Musk had turned a space for debate into an amplifier of hate that was capable of influencing the German parliamentary election campaign. 

"Since taking over Twitter, as the platform was previously known, Musk has converted X into a hate machine."

Some, like Streisand, have joined X's still relatively new social media rival Bluesky. The official Bluesky Safety account reported on November 15th that three million people had signed up for the social media site in a week. Others, like King, are continuing with social media service Threads. And many now have both.

But which celebrities will follow in their footsteps by quitting X?

Mass X-Odus

Several A-list stars took to social media before the recent US election to pledge their support to Trump's rival, Kamala Harris.

Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez were all in favour of Harris' bid for power, and it wouldn't be a huge surprise if they departed X in the wake of Trump's re-election.

Several Swift fans, known as Swifties, have already X-ited the social media platform, so it would make sense if their idol followed suit.

What's more, Swift and Musk have history on X. After the Blank Space hitmaker endorsed Harris for the presidency in September, signing off her post: "Childless Cat Lady," Musk—the richest person in the world—was blasted for his response.

King then got involved, writing on X: "I love Taylor Swift. Her music makes me happy. End of story," to which Musk replied, "What are your fav TS songs?"

While Swift didn't reply to Musk's comments, she is just 1/1 to ditch X.

One thing that could be stopping her is her 94.7 million followers on the social media site. However, if she was to deactivate her account, it would be some statement and surely see several other celebrities follow suit. 

Shonda's Permanent X-It?

Several stars have previously threatened to quit X following Musk's $44 billion takeover in October 2022.

Among those, Shonda Rhimes received more than 37,000 likes after writing in the same month: "Not hanging around for whatever Elon has planned. Bye."

Since then, she kept to her word and didn't create any new posts, but her account remains active and the Grey's Anatomy star recently retweeted a message from Kamala HQ about Harris "fighting to fix" a "broken immigration system."

Rhimes, who has 1.8 million followers, is just 11/10 to depart X entirely, while fellow actress Mia Farrow is 7/2 and Star Trek star George Takei is 5/1. 

Farrow threatened to leave in 2022, admitting she feared X would become "toxic" and "hateful," and Takei was also concerned the platform would become "more toxic." 

However, Farrow's account remains active, but she has posted several recent anti-Trump messages, and Takei even branded Musk a "snowflake" on X just this week.

It wouldn't be a surprise if either clicked the deactivate button on X, and Lizzo's time on the site also looks to be over. On November 14, she made her first new post on the social media platform since September 22, 2023.

Her latest post, to her 2.1 million followers, was to share her new Bluesky account. Enough said from Lizzo, and she is just 5/2 to leave X for good.

Hilton Could Check Out Of X

Several companies have also stopped advertising on X, due to potential brand safety concerns.

These include Disney, Apple, Warner Bros., Fox Sports and Paris Hilton's 11:11 Media, which pulled out of a partnership with the platform last year due to concerns about antisemitism and pro-Nazi content on the platform.

_{Paris Hilton could soon be waving X goodbye. (Image: Image Press Agency/Alamy)}

While Hilton still has an active X account boasting 16.3 million followers, she is just 6/4 to depart the social media site.

Several other high-profile names could follow her, with the likes of Beyonce (2/1), Jennifer Lopez (3/1) and Madonna (4/1) all single-figure prices. What's more, the showbiz trio all supported Harris during her recent election defeat.

Megan Thee Stallion is another who was a big supporter of Harris, even performing at her campaign rally in July, and she is 9/2 to become part of the mass X-odus. X could look very different in a couple of months, while the future looks bright for Bluesky.