Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash is saying farewell to X, after voicing his fustration following the rise in social media hacks on the social media platform.

In what seems like his last tweet, Slash wrote

"I'd like to inform you that I've decided to step away from Twitter and will no longer be active on the platform. This was a considered decision after repeated hacks, and it reflects a shift in how I'd like to stay connected moving forward."

But Slash still plans to be active on social media, adding, "You can still find me on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook where I'll be posting regular updates."

A wave of hacks targeting musicians and celebrities

This decision comes after the guitarist's account was hacked just a few hours before April Fool's and was used to post several promotional messages about a fake Guns N' Roses memecoin.

One of the posts written by the hackers read

"In 2 hours, we're launching a memecoin on SOLANA. Stay tuned.."

The hackers also pinned a post claiming "they will invest $1 M in $GUNS in the next hour" to generate artificial excitement. Those posts have since been deleted, though the token remains live on PumpFun, with just some $3,300 in value left.

This was the only hack reported which involved the guitarist, hence it remains why the guitarist used the phrase "repeated hacks." Could he be specifically referring to the April 2 hack, or could he be talking about the general trend where more and more social media accounts have been compromised to promote fraudulent memecoins, that is anyone's guess.

In June last year, another American heavy metal band Metallica also saw its Twitter account hacked to promote METAL, another Solana memecoin. The hackers even used the same colours as the band to create the illusion that this was really a token released by the band.

The token reached a market cap of at least $10 million before crashing within hours. These hacks also represent a broader pattern of hackers targeting musicians and celebrities on the platform, tapping on their clout to get the most out of their scams.

In February last year, the band released an AI-enhanced music video for their track The General, created using Stable Diffusion and Unreal Engine. The video featured surreal visuals and hidden Easter eggs tied to the band’s initials and AI themes.

The music video featured a young boy strolling across a trippy, magenta-tinted cyberpunk cityscape, with live footage of the band morphing into alien characters.

The AI-enhanced video included subtle Easter eggs with "G", "N", "R" , and "AI" elements-a deliberate artistic choice, rather than an unauthorized exploitation of the band's brand.

A wave of mass exodus since Elon turned Twitter into X

Since Musk took over Twitter and turned it into X, many artists have announced their exit from the social media platform, including The Cure's Robert Smith, Jack White and Elton John.

While the guitarist didn't mention Musk as the reason behind his departure, others have previously cited this as their reason for leaving the social media app, such as Jack White, who departed in 2022 due to the Tesla Owner reinstating Donald Trump's account.

The White Stripes singer said in a statement:

"So you gave Trump his Twitter platform back. Absolutely disgusting Elon. That is officially an asshole move. Why don't you be truthful? Tell it like it is."