Another moral panic report is out from one of Parliament’s committees – this time on the threat of foreign disinformation. What about the threat of disinformation from Keir Starmer?
Anyway, the document, from the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, cites evidence it received that “Elon Musk’s influence is potentially greater in the UK than that of Russia’s”. It makes that claim alongside similar allegations about hostile states…
The report proposes a ‘National Counter Disinformation Centre’, which would presumably be another expensive quango to police social media and filter information in the interests of Labour ministers. Is that the shredder you can hear?
Paris prosecutors’ cyber crime unit are raiding the French offices of Elon Musk’s X, with Musk himself summoned along with former X CEO Linda Yaccarino to a hearing in April. The raid is connected to a probe launched in January 2025 over ‘complaints’ about the social media platform’s algorithm. Here we go again…
When the investigation was expanded last July, X said:
“French authorities have launched a politically-motivated criminal investigation into X over the alleged manipulation of its algorithm and alleged “fraudulent data extraction.” X categorically denies these allegations.”
Europol is assisting the investigation. Developing…
Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall addressed calls for the government to stop posting on X (mainly by Labour MPs) while discussing potentially banning the platform in the Commons. Hilariously she explained that the reason they haven’t done that yet is because many people get their news from the site. She said:
“Understandable calls for the government to end its participation on X. I really do understand why many colleagues have come to this conclusion when X seems so unwilling to clean up its act. The government will of course keep our participation on X under review. But our job is to protect women and girls from illegal and harmful content wherever it is found. And 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 it they use it as their primary source of news that our views and often simply the facts need to be heard wherever possible.”
And they want to ban it…
Downing Street has said it fully supports a ban on X if Ofcom decides to do so. Letting the two-tier watchdog do the dirty work…
Starmer’s spokesman said a at the Lobby briefing of journalists this morning:
“Ofcom has a back stop power to apply to the courts to block services in the UK where they refuse to uphold our law. If Ofcom deems that to be necessary, they will have our full support.”
The PM’s spokesman added that the UK is committed to free speech in response to US Republican congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna warning she would “sanction not only Starmer, but Britain as a whole” if he bans X. There’s no chance of him banning ChatGPT, he’d have to shut down half of Whitehall…
Ofcom has announced the launch of his investigation into X. Including a threat to shut it down in the UK…
The media regulator says:
“Ofcom has today opened an investigation into XIUC’s compliance with its duties under the Act. The investigation follows widespread reports that a Grok model on X is/was being used to generate and share content that may amount to intimate image abuse, CSAM and pornography that is accessible to children.
Ofcom’s investigation will seek to establish whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that XIUC has failed, or is failing, to comply with its legal obligations as set out above.
Ofcom’s Online Safety Enforcement Guidance sets out how Ofcom will normally approach enforcement under the Act. This includes our approach to information gathering and analysis and the procedural steps we must take to fairly determine the outcome of the investigation.
Where we identify compliance failures, we can impose fines of up to £18m or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue (whichever is greater). In the most serious cases of ongoing non-compliance, and where appropriate given the risks of harm to individuals in the UK, we can make an application to a court for ‘business disruption measures’, through which a court could impose an order, on an interim or full basis, requiring payment providers or advertisers to withdraw their services from a platform, or requiring internet service providers to block access to a site in the UK. The court may only impose such orders where appropriate and proportionate to prevent significant harm to individuals in the UK.”
DSIT secretary Liz Kendall will make a statement on X in the Commons later today. Labour has been leaning hard on their ‘all options on the table’ line since last week…
Downing Street has called X’s move to limit its image creation function to paying subscribers as “insulting“. Starmer’s spokesman told Lobby briefing this morning:
“The latest move today is not a solution, it’s insulting to the victims of misogyny and sexual violence. It shows that X can move swiftly if it wants to. It’s time to for X to grip this issue. All options are on the table, and that includes from Ofcom, and we will fully support them… We must stop these abhorrent images… X needs to act and it needs to act now.”
The PM’s spokesman added that “our focus is stopping these unlawful images”, though couldn’t give an answer to whether the government had an actual deadline for X to solve the issue. Meanwhile, the government is still using the platform…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”