Elon Musk’s X Faces UK Police Exodus Over Extremism and Disinformation

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Key Takeaways

  • There is growing concern about Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, particularly around the increase of extremist content and disinformation.
  • Reuters polled 45 police forces in the United Kingdom, with 33 providing a response on the issue.
  • The summer riots in the UK, following the murder of three young girls in Southport, have led to further scrutiny of the role of X and other platforms.

A survey of British police forces has revealed many are reducing their presence on the social media site X amid rising concern about the proliferation of extremist content on the platform.

Elon Musk, the owner of the former Twitter site, has championed himself and X as proponents of free speech and the antidote to censorship, but not everyone is on board with the direction taken recently.

A special report by Reuters has questioned all 45 police forces in the United Kingdom, including the British Transport Police, with revealing insight.

Of the 33 police organizations that responded to their approach to X, ten forces with a combined responsibility for 13 million people stated they were actively reviewing their presence on social media sites. In contrast, ten forces said they continually reviewed all social content across various platforms.

Many forces have cut down their footprint on X, with six police bodies reducing their output to just one or two accounts.

North Wales Police has taken a further step, ceasing its activity on X since August. The authority, which has responsibility for around 700,000 citizens, said, “We felt that the platform was no longer consistent with our values and, therefore, we have withdrawn our use of it. ” Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman added that they would continue to monitor alternative platforms.

Nearby in Wales, Gwent Police said they were reviewing X due to questions posed by “the tone of the platform and whether that is the right place to reach our communities.”

Gwent has removed all of its individual officer accounts, while another force in England is assessing whether continuing to use X was the best way to engage with and build trust in their community.

After Southport, Scrutiny Of X Has Intensified

For more than a decade, Twitter was viewed as an excellent medium and source of news for authorities and organizations to spread key information to communities.

From police authorities to government institutions and the royal family, the concise format of the now X platform made it an essential communications tool.

That picture has now changed.

In recent times, the role of X and other media sources has been scrutinized in the UK after the murder of three young girls at a dance class in the northwest English town of Southport.

In the immediate aftermath, posts on X fuelled the belief the heinous attack was the work of an Islamist migrant, but much of the content proved to be fake, malicious, and intended.

For several nights in Southport and across the UK, riots broke out, largely motivated by racism.

Musk stated on his X platform that “civil war is inevitable”.

None of the police forces questioned said their reactions were directly related to the summer unrest following the Southport incident. Still, critics of Musk’s lenient approach believe hate speech and disinformation have been allowed to flourish.