Culture secretary quits X in protest at 'misinformation'

The culture department has become the second government department to leave the platform Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has announced she and her department are leaving Elon Musk's X platform. Explaining her decision in what seemingly will be her last post on X, external, Nandy said the platform "isn't healthy for our democracy or our communities and I don't want to support it". "A platform originally designed for free speech and expression now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate," she wrote. Responding on X,, external Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said "DCMS [the Department for Culture, Media and Sport] is supposed to counter and deal with misinformation, not run away because it's all too much." The culture department becomes the second government department to stop using X after the attorney general's office, while several MPs also left the platform earlier this year over reports its AI tool was being used to create sexualised images. Nandy said she would continue to use Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. There were violent protests in Southampton following the release of bodycam footage showing police handcuffing 18-year-old Nowak as he lay dying. His killer Vickrum Digwa had claimed he had been the victim of a racist attack. The footage of Nowak's final moments has prompted a wave of political reaction in the UK, as well as X owner Musk criticising the police treatment of the teenager. Several MPs, including Liberal Democrat Layla Moran and Vikki Slade, and Labour's Darren Paffey, left the platform after reports the Grok AI tool was being used to create sexualised images, including of children. X has previously said: "Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content."