The UK government will continue to use Twitter/X for official communications but is not using the Elon Musk-owned platform for paid-for advertising it is understood, as the billionaire tech mogul continued his attack on Keir Starmer today.
Musk has been locked in a war of words with the UK prime minister over the role social media has played in riots across the UK.
Today, Musk responded to a fake news story, purporting to be from the Daily Telegraph newspaper, by tweeting “Detainment Camps”… to a screenshot of a story headlined “Keir Starmer considering building ‘emergency detainment camps’ on the Falkland Islands.
The subhead of the story read: “The camps would be used to detain prisoners from the ongoing riots as the British prison system is already at capacity”. The fake news story Musk was responding to had been posted by Ashlea Simon, co-leader of the far-right party Britain First. Musk subsequently deleted the post.
A spokesperson for the Telegraph said: “This is a fabricated headline for an article that does not exist. We notified relevant platforms and requested that the post be taken down.”
Musk also tweeted today “this is actually happening” to a Sky News post of an interview with the director of public prosecutions of England and Wales, Stephen Parkinson, who warned that sharing online material of riots could be an offence.
Some firms have been concerned about advertising on X amid worries that Musk is not serious about removing harmful content and misinformation.
Earlier this week it was revealed Musk’s X was suing a global advertising body and major companies, including Mars and Unilever, accusing them of unlawfully conspiring to “boycott” the site.
Meanwhile, sources have said that the UK government will continue not advertising on Twitter.
The Telegraph reported in November last year that the UK government had stopped advertising on the platform, due to commercial reasons, relating to the effectiveness of ad spend on the platform, not Musk’s ownership.
According to the Telegraph, Whitehall departments spent £5.4m on Twitter adverts in 2022, according to a Freedom of Information request. However, it is understood the UK government will continue to use X for official communications.
