Stephen Fry names the modern invention he wants to ‘destroy’
Stephen Fry names the modern invention he wants to ‘destroy’
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‘Nobody has the courage to do anything about it,’ the actor said. Stephen Fry has said he wants to “destroy” social media because it has “polluted” our culture. The actor, 67, was previously a prolific Twitter user but deleted his account when Elon Musk completed a multi-billion dollar deal to take over the platform – now known as X – in 2022.
![[Stephen Fry has said he’d like to ‘destroy’ social media]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/30/22/71b2431ca2c19e2e05772c97f1712204Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM1Mzk5NjI5-2.72459000.jpg)
Fry said he started out as an “absolute lover” of the “religion” of social media, but is now considering spending the rest of his life fighting it. The actor continued that the “beautiful swimming hole” where Twitter users had “all made friends with each other” suddenly saw “turds floating on the surface”.
![[Fry was a prolific Twitter/X user until Elon Musk took over the platform in 2022]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/27/13/2025-01-21T002153Z_1646586557_RC2RDCAI0QOS_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-INAUGURATION.jpg)
When Musk took over Twitter, Fry quickly posted a picture of Scrabble letters spelling out “Goodbye” to his 12.5m followers to announce he was leaving. Fry explained that billionaire’s takeover was akin to the Twitter river being “contaminated” and “polluted” with “old rusting shopping carts” and “broken glass” that “cut at the soles of our feet”.
The former QI host said that this contamination was dangerous to children breathing in the content online. “The cultural air they breathe, that’s polluted,” he said. “You can’t stop them breathing it because it’s everywhere.”. Fry said he may dedicate his life to being like the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, who travelled thousands of miles a week telling people about slavery and “what it really was”.
