Keir Starmer is mulling a ban on X, formerly Twitter. This would be a shocking, draconian move, bringing the UK into line with states as authoritarian as Russia, China and North Korea. Yet the only real surprise here is that he hasn’t tried it sooner. As I argue today on spiked, the PM’s claim that this is about protecting children from X-generated AI deepfakes is incredibly weak sauce. Every man and his AI companion knows that X and its owner, Elon Musk, have been a constant thorn in the side of this loathsome Labour government. Starmer holds X responsible for reviving interest in the grooming gangs and even stoking the Southport riots. We should take his threat to ban it incredibly seriously.
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Samizdata quote of the day – The UK’s descent into authoritarianism acceleratesPerry de Havilland (Prague) · Civil liberty, Law & Regulation · Internet · Slogans & Quotations · UK affairs January 9th, 2026 |
 9 comments to Samizdata quote of the day – The UK’s descent into authoritarianism acceleratesLeave a Reply |
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I think this is a serious threat. I very much hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.
The one thing which might stop Spanner is the thought of the 100% tariffs which would be slapped upon the UK overnight by Trump. Spanner is playing with fire, I just hope he knows it.
Maybe a tech-ignorant question, but . . .
If you are in the UK, and you have Starlink as your data source, and Starlink is configured to hook you onto an internet provider outside the UK, would this ban have any affect on you?
Another tech ignorant question – can’t they just deactivate whatever capability it is that allows people to get Grok to make porn?
“bringing the UK into line with states as authoritarian as Russia, China and North Korea.”
Would the current government of the UK consider the parallel to be a good thing or a bad thing?
Subotai Bahadur
“Deep Fakes” is an excuse – the real reason is hatred of political and cultural dissent.
Remember the United Kingdom has a government that arrests thousands (yes thousands) of people for their opinions, and the Prime Minister himself was a leading member of the “Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers” – which (like such philosophers as Hobbes and Rousseau centuries ago) reverses the meaning of key concepts – for example when the Prime Minister talks of “Freedom of Speech” he means freedom of “Progressive” speech – not “Reactionary” speech, like the late Herbert Marcuse the Prime Minister regards freedom for “Reactionary” opinions as “Repressive Tolerance” – or as Rousseau would put it, “the will of all” rather than the true “General Will” – which only the enlightened “Law Giver”.
And like Thomas Hobbes (see Mr Hobbes’ work “A Dialogue Between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Law of England”) the Prime Minister believes the words “Law” and “Justice” simply mean the will-of-the-state – although the Prime Minister would qualify that to mean the will of the PROGRESSIVE state (not just any state – as with Mr Hobbes).
If the government (perhaps that bit of the government called “Ofcom” which is controlled by people with “Progressive” opinions) does ban X the mask (already a tattered mask – remember thousands of people are already arrested for their words) will be well and truly off – the government, unelected and elected government, will be exposed as a tyranny.
Short version…
Fraser Myers is correct.
Looks like my ProtonVPN subscription might be getting field-tested over the next few months.
To ban X but allow PornHub to remain open would be quite a move!
I don’t think even Starmer could do anything quite so transparently political.