When Keir Starmer was running to be Labour leader in 2020, his aides seriously considered whether they should leave Twitter for good.
A number of those who remain close to Starmer as prime minister were then enthusiastic about moving off the platform. The party was still feeling wounded by the brutal election campaign and by the bitterness of the way it had been conducted on social media.
Even in the era before Elon Musk took ownership of Twitter – renaming it X, reinstating far-right figures like Tommy Robinson and overseeing a steady increase in misinformation – there was a feeling that the essentially combative nature of the platform was fuelling something dark in politics.
Starmer himself has long been a sceptic of the usefulness of the platform and repeatedly frustrated by the headaches caused by his own MPs when they get into trouble for posts.
But that early idea of a boycott never materialised – it was just too hard to do in opposition. Now the dependence on X is even greater. Politicians, government departments and public figures all use it as a conduit for major announcements. Rishi Sunak, as prime minister, courted Musk with a soft-soap interview at his AI summit.
For years, Labour has had a “tweet first” strategy, meaning announcements and responses were posted on X even before official press releases were sent out. But there are now murmurs in government about how long that can go on, with Musk this week openly taunting Starmer, calling him “two-tier Keir” and sharing misinformation with millions of followers.
In the official language used by government ministers, X is not singled out. The problem of disinformation on the platform is mentioned alongside Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and WhatsApp as a generalised problem.
But there is private acknowledgment that X is different for two reasons – first as it is the platform of choice for politicians and journalists, meaning there is a particular premium on accuracy, and second because of the overt influence of its owner in boosting misinformation.
Starmer’s spokesperson took the decision to criticise Musk’s comment that “civil war is inevitable” under a post showing video of riots in Liverpool, saying it had “no justification”. The video was initially posted by Robinson, though on another user’s feed.
But since then the billionaire has clearly enjoyed goading the prime minister, with multiple tweets highlighting grooming gangs, or calling him “two-tier Keir” to suggest that far-right rallies have been more harshly policed than protests by Black Lives Matter or over Gaza.
On Thursday, Musk amplified a faked headline, purportedly from the Telegraph, which said convicted rioters would be sent to detention camps, first posted by the leader of Britain First. He deleted the post after about 30 minutes but not before it had received 2m views.
Musk will probably soon lose interest in provoking Starmer and return to focus on the US election. But it has been a difficult situation to navigate for the new government. For now, the first port of call is more engagement with the social media companies, though there will be a re-examination if more can be done with the Online Safety Act.
But if that proves fruitless, the next option can only be to review how the government uses the platform. It is a vicious cycle: most high-profile users will not quit X because that is where key dissemination of information is. Many politicians would be against abandoning the platform: Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said on Thursday he viewed it crucial to be a player there because of how it could be used to counter disinformation.
But some public bodies are already opting out. On Thursday, an NHS trust quit X, saying the platform was “no longer consistent with our trust values”.
And some Labour MPs are reconsidering how they use it. Andrew Lewin, the MP for Welwyn Hatfield, said he had not decided to leave but added: “After the reprehensible behaviour of Elon Musk this week, I will be here less. Musk is using his platform to sow division and fan the flames of hate. It is indefensible.” His fellow new MP Yuan Yang said Lewin’s comments felt “increasingly relevant”.
The uncomfortable reality is that no other platform offers quite the same immediate access to influential figures or acts like a breaking news network in the same way. Meta’s Threads platform comes closest, but so far Mark Zuckerberg does not seem to be courting government or media to jump ship. Indeed, political content is not boosted at all by its algorithm and is opt-in only.
For now, X is pretty much the only social media space where people do come specifically to listen to politics – and that might be too valuable to relinquish.
