Number 10 says no ‘back-and-forth’ with Elon Musk on X

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox

Get our free View from Westminster email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Number 10 is not going to get into a “running commentary” about its plans for social media giants and their users amid the nationwide public disorder, it has said.

Sir Keir Starmer’s spokeswoman also told journalists that the Prime Minister will not enter a tit-for-tat spat with the billionaire owner of X, formerly Twitter, Elon Musk.

After disorder in towns and cities throughout the UK, Mr Musk used the hashtag #TwoTierKeir on X – a reference to allegations police have treated some protesters more harshly than others – and he posted on Friday: “Support freedom of speech in the UK!”

He also promoted false claims Sir Keir had considered setting up detainment camps in the Falkland Islands, and suggested “civil war is inevitable”.

Taking questions from journalists, the spokeswoman said Downing Street expected ministers would engage with social media firms this week, after Technology Secretary Peter Kyle met with representatives last Monday.

“Understandably, our immediate response has been responding to the disorder and working with police but as (Sir Keir) said last week, he does agree that we’re going to need to look more broadly at social media after this disorder,” she said on Monday.

“We’re not going to get into kind of a running commentary of what that entails, but again, the focus has been at the moment on dealing with the disorder making sure that communities are safe and security.

“We would add, though, that does also involve police going after influencers and those who are stirring up hatred online alongside those who have been committing violence on our streets.”

Incitement, provoking violence and harassment offences predate X by almost 20 years, in the Public Order Act 1986, and apply both on and offline.

Police have arrested several social media users who allegedly stirred up racial hatred.

Jordan Parlour from Seacroft, Leeds, received a 20-month jail sentence after he wrote on Facebook that “every man and their dog should be smashing f***” out of a hotel, believed to have housed asylum seekers.

The 28-year-old pleaded guilty to intending to stir up racial hatred.

Tyler Kay, a 26-year-old of Ellfield Court, Northampton, received a 38-month sentence after he used X to back calls to “set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the bastards”.

Rioters descended on hotels in Rotherham in South Yorkshire and Tamworth, near Birmingham, during the disorder, with chants of “who the f*** is Allah?” and “dirty f****** Muslims” heard at violent protests elsewhere in England.

After his meeting last week, the Technology Secretary said: “There is a significant amount of content circulating that platforms need to be dealing with at pace.

“Different companies take different approaches and I expect platforms to ensure that those seeking to spread hate online are not being facilitated and have nowhere to hide.”

The Number 10 spokeswoman said: “We continue to engage with them (social media companies). I believe there’ll be further engagement this week and it’s vital that they take their responsibilities seriously.”

Asked about Mr Musk’s comments, the spokeswoman said: “I’m not proposing to get into back-and-forth on individual comments.

“Our focus is on working with the social media companies to ensure that what is illegal offline is illegal online, as it should be.”