Labour’s first ‘Twitter tsar’ has branded X a “cesspit” and urged ministers to quit the social media platform immediately after its AI tool was repeatedly used to generate sexualised images of people without consent.
On Monday Sir Keir Starmer issued an ultimatum to the platform’s owner Elon Musk, announcing that the government would take “fast action” to deal with the abuses of ‘Grok’ on the platform formerly known as Twitter. An investigation by the regulator Ofcom has also been launched.
But Labour MP Kerry McCarthy told the Independent the situation was so extreme that ministers and the Labour party should leave X straight away.
Asked if ministers should quit immediately, Ms McCarthy, herself a former minister, said: “Yes, it’s a cesspit.”
She added that the Labour Party, for which she acted as its ‘Twitter tsar’ in the run up to the 2010 general election, should also leave the platform. “Yes, although we lack other platforms, but it’s just gone too far.”
She added that both should leave “at least temporarily” after the PM warned Mr Musk: “If X cannot control Grok, we will – and we’ll do it fast because if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self-regulate.”
Ms McCarthy added: “I think in the short-term it’s got to be about Grok. But we also need to develop other avenues of communication so we are not reliant on X. It has become awful.”
She was made Labour’s ‘Twitter tsar’ when the party was keen to use the platform to get its message across to the public. At the time she was given the job of improving the party’s use of social media, as well as helping other MPs and candidates to use Twitter.
Despite the government’s criticism of X, many of Sir Keir’s senior ministers are still using the platform. Health secretary Wes Streeting, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper and home secretary Shabana Mahmood have all posted since the start of the week, while the prime minister has avoided the platform since 8 January and his chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has not posted since 2 January.
On Monday, Sir Keir told MPs and peers: “The actions of Grok and X are absolutely disgusting and shameful. Protecting their abusive users, rather than the women and children who are being abused shows a total distortion of priorities.
“So let me be crystal clear, we won’t stand for it, because no matter how unstable or complex the world becomes, this government will be guided by its values. We’ll stand up for the vulnerable against the powerful.”
He set out his plans to the weekly meeting of the Labour Parliamentary Party after Ofcom launched an investigation into X after Grok was used to generate sexualised images of women and children.
The technology secretary Liz Kendall has also encouraged Ofcom to use “the full range of its powers” and potentially ban X in the UK.
But such a move could spark a trade war with the US, with senior Trump administration figures, including vice-president JD Vance, accusing the UK of attacking free speech.
Allies of Mr Musk in the UK have opposed banning Grok, including Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Ofcom, the UK regulator, said it was responding to “deeply concerning” reports about the images and will investigate whether X has complied with UK laws.
In a statement, Ofcom said it will determine whether X “has complied with its duties to protect people in the UK from content that is illegal”.
The decision to launch the formal investigation was made after Ofcom reviewed available evidence “as a matter of urgency”. It was launched under the Online Safety Act, which gives the regulator the power to fine X or ban it.
Technology secretary Liz Kendall said the criminal offence would be brought into force this week under the Data (Use and Access) Act passed by Parliament last year.
However, a spokesman for the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology said while the legal steps to introduce the offence were being made this week, it would not come into force until February.
The spokesman said: “The ban will come into force in early February, 21 days after being signed – as is standard practice.
“But platforms already have a legal duty to stop the proliferation of these images under the Online Safety Act.
“X doesn’t need to wait for the Ofcom investigation to conclude.”
Nudification apps will also be criminalised as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, and it will become illegal for companies to supply tools to create non-consensual internet images.
Ms Kendall told MPs on Monday that the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) “reports criminal imagery of children as young as 11, including girls sexualised and toddlers”.
She continued: “This is child sexual abuse. We’ve seen reports of photos being shared of women in bikinis, tied up and gagged, with bruises, covered in blood, and much, much more.”
On Friday, X appeared to have changed Grok’s settings, with the chatbot telling users that only paid subscribers could ask it to manipulate images.
However, reports suggested this only applied to those making requests in reply to other posts, and other ways of editing or creating images, including on a separate Grok website, remained open.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said banning X was the “wrong answer”. Speaking before the investigation was launched, she said: “I’m not even sure what question it is that they’re answering.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also expressed fears that the government will end up “suppressing free speech”.
