The Leave X Peer Persuasion Award

As symbolic prize for democratic leadership, we are creating The Leave X Peer Persuasion Award. More than four hundred Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are still active on X, which corresponds to nearly 60% of the total.

We believe that defending democracy requires more than just laws and regulations; it also requires personal responsibility, peer influence, and setting a good example.

For this reason, we are announcing this award to recognize MEPs who actively persuade their colleagues to leave X and explain publicly why this matters for democracy.

This is not a competition for visibility; rather, it is an acknowledgment of democratic leadership.

The Challenge #

From January 18, 2026, to April 18, 2026, any MEP may participate by:

1. Persuading one or more fellow MEPs to leave X, through direct discussion, argumentation, or example.
2. Publicly documenting the process on a personal or institutional website or alternative social media platforms, such as Mastodon.
3. Clearly naming the colleagues who decided to leave X because of this persuasion with their consent.

Transparency matters; the goal is to demonstrate how peer-to-peer democratic leadership works in practice.

The Prizes: #

Three prizes will be awarded to the MEPs who demonstrate the greatest peer impact.

🥇 First Prize: #

How Democracies Die, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt

Awarded for outstanding leadership in defending democratic norms through persuasion and example.

🥈 Second Prize: #

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, by Shoshana Zuboff

Awarded for highlighting the structural risks that platform power poses to democracy and civic autonomy.

🥉 Third Prize: #

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder.

Awarded for moral clarity and historical awareness in defending democratic values.

The prizes are valuable not for their material reward, but for what they represent.

How to Participate #

• Publish on some alternative social media, for instance, Mastodon, or on your website, the list of MEPs you have convinced to leave X.
• Explain your arguments and reasoning.
• List the colleagues who left X following your persuasion.
• Share a link with us at leavexeu@pm.me, or @leavex@mastodon.social.

We will review submissions after 18 April 2026 and publicly announce the recipients and send the prizes to the European Parliament in Brussels.

Democratic cheers,

Everton Zanella Alvarenga