Game developer deletes all social media accounts, suggests others should follow

No TikTok, no Facebook, no Twitter – Asylum Square, an indie German game developer behind Tiny Thor, Tombs of Myra, and other games, has had it. This time, it’s not just about reclaiming personal space.

Jochen Heizmann, the co-founder and CEO of Asylum Square, who maintained a significant follower base of 16,000 on X, announced he ‘nuked’ all personal and professional social media accounts.

This comes in response to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to ditch fact-checkers on the platforms. Elon Musk got his own share of criticism for running X.

Heizmann, also known as ‘@joemonaco’ explained the decision in a blog post.

“Meta is teaming up with Trump to fight EU regulations affecting their platforms. The video itself is so absurd it feels like it could’ve been written by J. Michael Straczynski for Babylon 5 — President Clark and Nightwatch vibes all the way. But nope, it’s not sci-fi. It’s our horrifying reality,” the post reads.

The acclaimed sci-fi TV series is known for complex political themes, where tyrannical President Clark forged alliances to enforce loyalty to the regime.

“And then there’s Musk. Oh boy. These days, he’s practically glued to Trump,” Heizmann noted.

He’s disturbed by Musk recently hosting a live discussion on X (which Heizmann still refers to as Twitter) with Alice Weidel, the co-leader of Germany’s AfD party. The German intelligence agency has classified AfD as a ‘suspected extremist’ organization.

“The content? Let’s just say it made me want to yeet my phone into the nearest ocean,” the developer said. “How anyone can take that level of garbage seriously is beyond me.”

He warns that the trio of Musk, Zuckerberg, and Donald Trump could be ‘the perfect setup for a dystopian sci-fi thriller’ without a happy ending.

The recent changes are a cherry on top of a social networking cake layered with declining moral standards, psychological manipulations to boost engagement and doom-scrolling, questionable advertising practices, and “scammy ads.”

“As a dad of two daughters, I see firsthand what these platforms are doing to young people.”

The developer described the deletion process as a “Kafkaesque nightmare” – deliberately complicated with “broken verification codes and other roadblocks.” He also noted the realization of his own dependence on social media.

“The number of times I reflexively typed "t" or "f" into my browser bar (which autocompletes to twitter.com or facebook.com) was honestly terrifying,” the developer said.

He acknowledged that not everything on social media was bad, as it helped him to meet great people, discover ‘cool stuff,’ and get good feedback. However, the developer suggests that others should probably follow when CEOs lose their moral compasses.

The developer is considering joining Bluesky but is holding off for now.

“Maybe I’ll go old-school and write more blog posts. Like back in the early 2000s, when you actually had to think before sharing your thoughts with the world.”

Like many similar suggestions before it, Asylum Square’s decision sparked a heated debate on the Hacker News (Y Combinator) forum.

Among hundreds of comments, many people are afraid that leaving social media may result in them missing out on important life updates from friends and family. However, others counter that loose social connections are not worth maintaining.

“If you mattered, you would've gotten a direct message or call from them,” one user posted.

Whether social media is bad or wrong, many noted the discontent and declining standards on social media.

“The problem with these social networks now is that they all turned into ad-machines and ‘like-bait.’ The original products worked extremely well – but you gotta make money somehow, and ads seem to be the go-to model,” one user summarized.