The Guardian newspaper group says it will no longer use X, once Twitter, which has become a "toxic media platform".

The US presidential election "underlined" concerns it had about its owner Elon Musk being able to use X "to shape political discourse", it said in a message to its readers.

Mr Musk was a strong supporter of Donald Trump and is now being appointed to the administration to cut government spending.

The BBC has asked X for comment.

The Guardian said it would still be able to share articles around, and it was probably going to embed X posts in its coverage of events around the world.

It added that its reporters would be allowed to continue accessing the site "for news-gathering purposes."

It said, however that the "benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives."

"This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism," it added.

The decision was also posted on X itself, where some users reacted with vitriol, accusing the Guardian of "woke propaganda" and "virtue signalling" - especially those who paid for prominent replies to make sure everyone saw them.

Mr Musk and the Guardian are far from political bedfellows, so in that sense it is not surprising that the newspaper has responded in this way to his and X's increasing alignment with Trump.

But it can also be said the election result is a chance for the paper, which bills itself as "the world's leading liberal voice."

It is framing itself as part of the "resistance" against Donald Trump, using the US election to point out that is a media company without a billionaire owner-while also soliciting donations from its readers.

Readers gave more than $1.8m (£1.4m) the day after election, a one-day record.

Media reporter for The New York Times, Ben Mullin described the fundraising of media group as "a sign that some outlets are tapping a surge of enthusiasm for adversarial journalism post-election".

The Guardian's departure is also likely to raise questions about whether others will follow.

X's rivals are already looking to cash in on benefits.

Meta's Threads has expanded and Bluesky - set up by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey - briefly topped the download charts in both UK and US Apple App Stores.

Its userbase has grown by four million in two months, and Bluesky said yesterday it had added a million new users over the seven days since the former president's victory.

This, however stands relatively small, with only 15 million users globally.