A day after putting rumours of his X/Twitter ban to rest, author Stephen King is ditching the platform for Threads. He is joining a number of celebrities and Taylor Swift fans in this exercise.

“I’m leaving Twitter,” he posted on November 14. Tried to stay, but the atmosphere has just become too toxic. Follow me on Threads, if you like,” he posted on X before switching off.

The move doesn’t surprise many as in recent days X competitors Bluesky and Threads have skyrocketed in popularity in the US. The fallout is a response to the US election results and Elon Musk’s new role in President-elect Donald Trump incoming administration.

Also leaving are Lizzo, Jamie Lee Curtis and Don Lemon. In a Wednesday Instagram post, Halloween actress Curtis shared a screenshot showing her X account’s successful deactivation. She wrote: ”God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference.

And it’s not just celebrities who are leaving. Taylor Swift fans or Swifties are warming up to Bluesky. Almost 13,000 people on Bluesky have signed up with a “swifties.social” domain name, indicating their attached in the Taylor Swift fan community. Other fandoms for artistes like Beyonce (about 900 members) and BTS (about 4,500 members) have also emerged. Fan-driven domains function within the main Bluesky social server.

Among important publications to leave X is the UK newspaper The Guardian, which also has offices in the US and Australia. It announced plans to stop sharing content with its 27 million followers across more than 80 accounts on X.

“We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere,” the outlet’s announcement reads.