Has Keir Starmer quietly give up X? PM hasn’t tweeted in practically every week since row erupted over Elon Musk’s Grok creating sexualised photographs of kids
Sir Keir Starmer appears to be quietly boycotting X amid the furious row over Elon Musk‘s website allowing the creation of sexualised images of women and children.
The Prime Minister hasn’t posted on the social media platform in nearly a week, since 8 January, leading to speculation he might be deliberately snubbing the site.
Sir Keir has continued to post on other social media sites, such as Instagram and TikTok, over the same period.
The use of Grok – an AI tool embedded into X – to create sexually explicit content, including child sexual abuse, has prompted a widespread outcry.
X last week limited Grok’s image generation and editing features to only paying subscribers of the site.
But this only sparked further fury with Mr Musk accused of ‘monetising abuse’ in a move that was branded ‘insulting to victims’ by Government ministers.
Ofcom is now carrying out an official investigation into X under the Online Safety Act, with ministers not ruling out banning the site once the regulator’s probe is completed.
Downing Street said on Monday it was keeping its presence on X ‘under review’, amid calls from Labour MPs for the Government to shut down its official accounts.
Sir Keir Starmer appears to be quietly boycotting X amid the furious row over Elon Musk’s website allowing the creation of sexualised images of women and children
The Prime Minister hasn’t posted on the social media platform in nearly a week, since 8 January, leading to speculation he might be deliberately snubbing the site
The use of Grok – an AItool embedded into X – to create sexually explicit content, including child sexual abuse, has prompted a widespread outcry
But Technology Secretary Liz Kendall later played down the prospect of the Government quitting X.
She told the House of Commons: ‘I think it’s also worth bearing in mind, with 19 million people on X in this country – and more than a quarter of them saying that they use it as their primary source of news – that our views and often simply the facts, need to be heard wherever possible.’
Neither Sir Keir’s official X account, nor that of No 10 Downing Street, titled ‘UK Prime Minister’ have posted on the site since last week.
The last time the PM posted on X was on 8 January when he commented on Labour’s U-turn on scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
A number of Sir Keir’s most recent posts have had a ‘community note’ attached, in which fellow X users have ‘added context they thought people might want to know’.
Speaking to Labour MPs in Parliament on Monday night, Sir Keir issued a warning that if X cannot control Grok then ‘we will’.
Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, the PM said: ‘The actions of Grok and X are absolutely disgusting and shameful.
‘Protecting their abusive users, rather than the women and children who are being abused shows a total distortion of priorities.
‘So let me be crystal clear, we won’t stand for it, because no matter how unstable or complex the world becomes, this Government will be guided by its values.
‘We’ll stand up for the vulnerable against the powerful. If X cannot control Grok, we will.
‘And we’ll do it fast because if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self regulate.’
