Veteran musician Elton John quits Twitter due to misinformation

Los Angeles: Veteran musician Elton John has decided to no longer use Twitter citing "misinformation" as the reason.

The singer-songwriter shared the news in a statement posted on the microblogging site.

"All my life I've tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world," John tweeted.

"I've decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked," he added.

The platform had announced around two weeks ago that it will no longer enforce a policy to combat misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic.

In response to John's post, Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweeted that he hopes the singer returns to the platform soon.

"I love your music. Hope you come back. Is there any misinformation in particular that you're concerned about?" Musk wrote.

John's departure comes as Twitter continues to remain at the centre of a number of controversies, most notably antisemitic posts on the platform by Kanye West and Kyrie Irving, which were criticised by the Anti-Defamation League, Ari Emanuel, LeBron James and many others.

Other prominent personalities to quit Twitter since Musk took over the platform are Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Carrey, Shonda Rhimes, David Simon, Jamela Jamil, Trent Reznor, Gigi Hadid, Toni Braxton, Téa Leoni, Jack White, Liz Phair and Stephen Fry.