Government officials have received a caution against utilizing the X social media platform due to concerns about misinformation. As per reports, Attorney General Richard Hermer has instructed his office to refrain from sharing updates on X, marking the first instance of a government department ceasing the use of Elon Musk’s contentious platform.
Under the updated guidelines, officials are instructed to only engage with the site to counter misinformation, amid worries that the platform is increasingly exploited by malicious actors to incite discord and fragment communities.
Musk, known for controversial stances and associations, including endorsing far-right ideologies, acquired the platform in 2022. Despite previous assertions by Downing Street about the necessity of using X to communicate with the public, the Attorney General’s office has decided to discontinue its use of the app.
Recent incidents on X, including calls for violence by far-right groups following tragic events in Southampton and Belfast, have raised alarms. The violence in Belfast, characterized by targeted attacks on minority communities, was condemned as a “pogrom” by a Northern Irish MP.
Musk’s involvement in British politics, such as calling for a general election and supporting controversial figures like Tommy Robinson, has sparked further controversy. At a rally led by Robinson, Musk urged attendees to combat what he termed the “woke mind virus” and advocated for drastic political changes, warning of impending violence.
The threat of X being blocked in the UK was raised earlier this year by Keir Starmer over concerns about inappropriate content generated by X’s Grok AI feature. Tech companies are now mandated under the Online Safety Act to assess and mitigate the risk of users encountering illicit content on their platforms promptly.
Recent criticism of X’s AI bot emerged after reports of the bot allegedly creating explicit content featuring celebrities like Taylor Swift without prompting. Tech outlet The Verge highlighted the bot’s ‘spicy’ video mode, capable of generating NSFW content and celebrity deepfakes.
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