A key figure from Donald Trump’s administration has compared the British government’s threats against social media platform X to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Sarah Rogers, the US State Department’s under-secretary for public diplomacy, drew the parallel during a series of messages criticising the UK.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has indicated government support for regulator Ofcom to ban X in the UK, citing concerns over its AI, Grok, generating deepfake images. Tech tycoon Elon Musk, owner of Grok’s creator xAI and the X platform, has since branded the UK government “fascist” and accused it of curbing free speech, following heightened ministerial threats to block his website.
Meanwhile, Ofcom has contacted X and xAI concerning the creation of images depicting undressed individuals and sexualised children, and is conducting an “expedited assessment” of the companies’ responses.
Ms Rogers said the UK was “contemplating a Russia-style X ban, to protect them from bikini images”.
But Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy claimed US vice president JD Vance was sympathetic to efforts to tackle the Grok-produced images.
Mr Lammy, who met Mr Vance in the US on Thursday, told The Guardian he raised the issue of Grok “and the horrendous, horrific situation in which this new technology is allowing deepfakes and the manipulation of images of women and children, which is just absolutely abhorrent”.
“He agreed with me that it was entirely unacceptable,” Mr Lammy said.
“I think he recognised the very seriousness with which images of women and children could be manipulated in this way, and he recognised how despicable, unacceptable, that is and I found him sympathetic to that position.”
Mr Musk claimed the Government “want any excuse for censorship” and “just want to suppress free speech”.
Responding to a chart showing arrest figures for online posts with the UK at the top, Mr Musk said: “Why is the UK Government so fascist?”
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Ms Kendall said: “We are drawing an unbreakable line in the sand and telling tech firms, in no uncertain terms, that platforms profiting from abuse will never be acceptable.
“Innovation must serve humanity, not degrade it. If companies choose greed over responsibility, they will face the full force of the law.”
She said the Online Safety Act includes the power for courts to block services from being accessed in the United Kingdom if they refuse to comply with UK law.
“These powers exist for a reason. If we reach a point where Ofcom decides to use them, they will have the full support of this Government,” she said.
