FLJ Leaving X/Twitter
FLJ is exiting X/Twitter. This is our rationale and future plans.
Fair Library Jobs has been active on X/Twitter since December 2021 and in that time we have built a large following and are proud of our work campaigning for fairer library recruitment practices. While we freely admit that platforms are not neutral and that none are perfect we have been progressively more concerned by X/Twitter’s increasing level of hate speech, mis and dis-information and use of the platform by racist, transphobic and Islamophobic groups and individuals to incite and organise violence. We have therefore decided to follow many individuals and organisations and suspend use of the X/Twitter platform and lock our account.
Our rationale.
Our rationale for this decision is that:
In its current iteration, X/Twitter is incompatible with our values of transparency, equity and respect.
By remaining on and engaging with X/Twitter we encourage our followers to engage with a harmful platform, and that this harm is compounded for those from vulnerable and/or marginalised communities.
Use of the platform exposes our team, followers and libraries to unacceptable risks of harm and abuse.
FLJ’s Future.
X/Twitter has been an important part of our work and has allowed us to:
Publicly comment on library job ads with our audience.
Tag in employers to inform them of our concerns and create dialogue.
Allowed people to contact us with issues and for us to communicate actions/outcomes.
Replacing all these functions will be a challenge, our initial plans our outlined below.
Commenting on Job Ads.
We will continue posting on our Mastodon and Bluesky accounts and our LinkedIn group and encourage followers to join us there. We will explore the viability of our presence on other platforms. In addition we will share regular updates on job ads and recruitment issues via our website and SubStack newsletter.
Tagging in Employers.
This is difficult to replicate given platform diversity. We will try to tag in employers where they have an platform account. To inform employers of any concerns we have on job ads we will communicate privately via email with the named contact or a member of management in the organisation. We will treat all emails as private communication unless permitted otherwise. As above we will share updates on trends and issues.
Contacting FLJ.
We already have a range of ways to contact the FLJ team including email and our website. We have now introduced a specific ‘Report a Job Advert’ page for followers to raise issues with live adverts. We encourage our followers to use these to contact us with issues and concerns.
Finally we encourage our followers to subscribe to our SubStack newsletter.
In care and solidarity,
Fair Library Jobs.