First the Guardian, now Clifton Suspension Bridge boycotts X in a sulk

The Clifton Suspension Bridge has followed leftie paper the Guardian in boycotting X after Trump’s election win.

The iconic Bristol structure, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, has announced it will no longer post on X after “changes to the platform” made by Elon Musk.

While you might not expect a bridge to take a political stance, it seems the people behind the account have taken a leaf from The Guardian, which also said it was leaving the social media site yesterday after concerns over its “disturbing content”.

Clifton Suspension Bridge posted: “X has been a wonderful place to engage with our audience over the past 15 years. But the changes made to the platform in recent times has caused us to reconsider our use of it.

“With the rise in inappropriate content and decrease in meaningful engagement with our followers, we have chosen to no longer post to this account.”

Social media users have reacted to the news with derision, with one describing it as a “ridiculous statement” and another saying Brunel would have been “embarrassed to have such a set of pathetic wet blankets managing his engineering marvel”.

Andrew Hart suggested that “bridges should be better at getting over things” while someone else joked: “Cry me a river!”

Jason Green wrote: “Not really building bridges with people are you”, while another person accused the account of “left wing, woke virtue signalling”.

User @AlanBT5 said he had “never seen a bridge get triggered before”, with Nancy Windsor adding: “No surprise, you’re in Bristol”, pointing to the city’s liberal leftie reputation.

Someone else said: “Oh no! The Clifton Suspension Bridge is no longer on X. Hard to see how Musk recovers from this.”

The page, which was created in 2009, had posted intermittently throughout the year, with its most recent message wishing a traveller heading to Bristol with a teddy bear in tow “happy travels” on October 24.

Clifton Suspension Bridge was built in 1831 and is maintained by a charity which operates a £1 toll system for motorists.

It was initially used as a passage for horse-drawn carriages by the Victorians.

The Guardian said its decision to leave X was driven by owner Elon Musk’s ability to use its influence to shape political discourse after the billionaire was nominated to be part of Donald Trump’s US government this week.