Swiss health office turns to Bluesky against backdrop of US censorship
The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) has joined the Bluesky social network, while US President Donald Trump works with X owner Elon Musk to censor content on official US websites. For the time being, the FOPH remains active on X.
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On Thursday, the FOPH announced on X that it is now present on the young Bluesky social network. News on health policy and public health issues will be published there, it says.
“For the time being, the FOPH will continue to use X in parallel,” spokesman Daniel Dauwalder told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA on Friday. He declined to say whether this new presence on Bluesky was a consequence of the policies pursued by Trump since he took office at the end of January. This decision is part of the FOPH’s “multi-platform strategy”, he said.
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In recent days, the Trump administration has made hundreds of government sites inaccessible, including that of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which Musk wants to close. Content on AIDS or aimed at the LGBTQ+ community has been removed.
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Other institutions and political figures have taken the step of leaving X for good. These include the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF). Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider has also turned her back on the social network owned by billionaire Elon Musk, preferring Threads.
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Translated from French by DeepL/ts
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