Lisa Nandy has announced she is leaving Elon Musk’s X platform, taking her department with her. In what appeared to be her final post on the site, the culture secretary wrote that X “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 added.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport becomes the second government department to quit X, after the attorney general’s office stopped posting last month. Attorney General Lord Hermer defended that decision to MPs, saying the platform “constantly descends to racism and misogyny” and that his department “can do better”. “For the work that I can do, I can engage with people in serious debate, detailed debate, respectful debate, without being on a platform that constantly descends to racism and misogyny,” he told the Justice Committee in June.
“Lisa Nandy quits X with her department, calling the platform unhealthy for democracy.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised Nandy’s move, writing on X: “DCMS is supposed to counter and deal with misinformation, not run away because it’s all too much.” Downing Street indicated on Friday it would continue using the platform, with a spokeswoman saying it kept its use of social media “under review” and that it was up to individual ministers and their departments whether to stay.
Nandy’s departure follows a wave of political fallout after the murder of student Henry Nowak in Southampton. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer accused Musk of using X to “whip up division” following the release of bodycam footage showing police handcuffing the 18-year-old as he lay dying. His killer, Vickrum Digwa, had claimed he was the victim of a racist attack. The footage triggered violent protests in the city and prompted Musk to criticise the police treatment of Nowak.
Several MPs, including Liberal Democrats Layla Moran and Vikki Slade and Labour’s Darren Paffey, have also left X this year over reports its 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.” Nandy said she would continue to use Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.