Warwick councillors are being urged to practice what they preach and quit social media platform X after mothballing Warwick District Council's account. 

Portfolio holder for people and organisational development Cllr Becky Davidson said elected officials should follow the council's lead after the cabinet – the panel of Green and Labour councillors in charge of major service areas – rubber stamped the call. 

It sees the district authority for Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth follow neighbouring Rugby Borough Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council in making the decision to indefinitely suspend its accounts on Elon Musk's site, formerly known as Twitter.

Warwick's decision came after lengthy dialogue with the council's communications professionals and on the back of a motion – a statement of intent – that went to a vote for all councillors to cease use and to ask local members of parliament (MPs) to ask the government to do likewise.

One of the architects of that motion was Cllr Phil Kohler who told cabinet last week that the decision was "not about operational issues but about the politics, and specifically the kind of environment we want for our politics". 

A report came forward listing the pros and cons with issues such as losing a key platform to provide time-critical information to residents, the inability to address misinformation on X and accusations of restricting free speech raised. 

However, Cllr Davidson was convinced about the benefits. 

"This is not a black and white issue and we have taken in the concerns raised by councillors," she said.

"My recommendation is that we do suspend the use of X for the reasons set out in the motion, which include the posts by owner Elon Musk and the general trend in his behaviour towards that of hatred and violence."

She cited that X had scrapped its child safety team, meaning content cannot be checked for child abuse, grooming or self harm, and that engagement with the council's LinkedIn and Facebook was higher. 

"In addition, I would urge all councillors to do the same to ensure that we have consistent messaging between our members and the council," she added.

Cllr Davidson committed to keeping the situation under review, particularly if X comes under new ownership or launches new safety features.

"This could also mean that if we decide the harm has been greater than the benefit of coming off then maybe we do go back on," she continued.

"That would be something for us to review and monitor."

The account will remain online so the handle cannot be taken by anyone else potentially impersonating the council.

Cllr Judy Falp said: "I'm not a user of social media but I know a lot of people are.

"The strength of feeling at full council was that we should not be on it so I agree with withdrawing."

Cllr Ian Davison committed to writing to local MPs in line with the motion.