At Least One UK Government Department Is Reportedly Done With X

Richard Hermer, the Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland, has reportedly told his department to stop posting official updates on X. According to The Guardian and The Observer, Hermer made his department quit the social network due to concerns that X was being used to incite violence and racism. The last time his office posted on X was on June 12. Prior to that, it posted on the platform pretty frequently, sometimes even more than once a day, with updates about the work the government is doing to tackle various issues in the region. 

In a recent speech about the importance of Britain staying with the European Court of Human Rights after Brexit, he said: “We simply cannot let a very small group of crypto-funded millionaires of this world get away with using the debate about the ECHR or drawing closer to the EU to sow more division in this country — we cannot allow them to draw lines between our communities.”

Hermer made the decision to leave X after the Southampton and Belfast riots earlier this month, as he believes bad actors are using the website to intentionally sow discord and divide communities, the publications report. The Observer says he communicated his decision to his staff last week, following a surge in misinformation on the platform about the murder of Henry Nowak, who was fatally stabbed by a Sikh man, and the separate stabbing of a Dublin man by a Sudanese national. 

Far right activists were using the platform to spread disinformation and hate towards immigrants, with X owner Elon Musk further amplifying their voices. Some high-profile personalities were spreading doctored bodycam footage from the Nowak case, as well. In addition, Grok apparently wrongly identified two cops who were involved in the Nowak case. Their information was then widely shared online.

While Hermer’s office is possibly the first in the UK government to quit X, some female MPs individually left the website after it came out that Grok was allowing users to generate images of real women and children wearing revealing clothing. Hermer reportedly told his staff that the only reason his office should post on X was to correct misinformation on the platform.