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 |
 24 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.
With Starlink, it’s not the Internet provision which is the issue, it’s the radio spectrum licensing which is required to communicate with the Starlink satellites in orbit. These are issued by each government and can be similarly revoked if those countries chose to do so because of percieved violations of licensing.
Now, Twitter/X and Starlink are completely different legal entities, but since they are both majority owned by Elon Musk, any tyrannical government would use the threat (or the reality) of government license revokation to leverage censorship of Twitter/X.
Secondly, Mr. Musk has operated Starlink essentially for free in areas such as Ukraine, Venezuela and others where licensing would never be granted, but he has only done so when it is clearly to the benefit of the US State Department and the CIA.
So, as usual, it depends who your friends are and despite a bit of argy bargy, the Whitehouse and US government aperatus are clearly friendly towards Elon Musk.
I’d imagine even someone as obtuse as the Starmführer would realise that. He might piss-and-moan to UK media and in Parliament, but I doubt he would actually do anything of substance.
Dan Souter – Thanks for the response.
Seems to me if Musk provides SL without license in Venezuela, he might do the same in the UK in order to get his own X into the area.
(Unless he has no fears that future Venezuela governments might hold his acting-without-license against him, while he does think the UK would.)
@Bobby b – Yes, I take your point, but if he wants UK money for Starlink subscriptions then he has to abide by UK licensing regulations, otherwise UK government could reasonably order the termination of any banking and merchant facilities from UK banks and credit card companies.
The likelihood though is that any retaliation against Twitter/X or Starlink would be seen as an attack on free speech and/or US tech interests, both of which have been defined by the Trump administration as a red line.
When you’ve got the US Veep chastising the UK and European governments about actions of overt censorship, you’d better listen or those tarrifs will be rising like a tide in a storm.
Would Elon Musk retaliate in such a way? Unlikely. Better to whisper in the ear of Trump and Vance and let them take the lead. After all, it looks like Elon is financing the mid-terms and in all likelihood Vance’s 2028 bid (if it comes to anything), so he’s not going to be ignored by either POTUS or Veep.
A more subtle form of pressure would be for the US Treasury to undermine the UK government’s credit rating, leaving it unable to borrow, which it needs to do to spend. Tariffs might have this effect indirectly.
If the government can’t spend, it collapses.
This might seem like it belongs on another recent thread…
From The Daily Mail.
Whilst David Patrikarakos two points above are pertinent I think there might be a third one. Is Starmer worried that us Brits might not be prepared to wait until nearly the end of the decade? Might we take to the streets as well? Britain is not in a good way and banning X (and more) may be vital to shore-up his shit-show until things get bad enough for Starmer to create some sort of “Coalition of National Unity”.
I don’t think you are either. And he clearly intends to use Ofcom as his stalking horse.
I’m curious.
Two-Tier Keir’s threat to ban X in Britain is supposedly because its Grok application can be used to make pornographic images. (And if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge you might be interested in buying.) But what has been the reaction of other governments? What has the French Government said? The German one? I’ve not heard of any similar outrage overseas.
@bobby b
Seems to me if Musk provides SL without license in Venezuela, he might do the same in the UK in order to get his own X into the area.
There is a simpler solution — namely you can arrest and charge British Starlink users with operating an unlicensed transmitter and it is probably illegal to import an unlicensed transmitter into the UK. Of course some people might be able to get round it (though it is very easy to detect an unlicensed transmitter) but most people would not be willing to take the risk of arrest.
I mean people in North Korea have radios hidden under their beds, so they can hear broadcasts, but it is VERY risky to do so and it is FAR harder to detect a receiver than a transmitter.
FWIW, Starlink generally speaking complies with local laws, as it probably should, even unreasonable ones. After all, it is a matter for the British people to restore freedom of speech to their country, not some American billionaire. The courts are open and the elections regularly scheduled (so far at least).
But, of course, I’m not a lawyer never mind an expert in British law.
My feeling is this is going to escalate rapidly. The UK Blob don’t like Musk and are out to get him (and by proxy end any semblance of free speech in the UK). They will not back down on this, despite the obvious weakness the UK operates under with respect to the US. The sort of people who will be making this decision don’t like being told No. Look how they reacted to the Brexit vote. A bigger toddler strop you’d be hard pushed to find. If OFCOM go after X/Grok, then the US government is going to get involved immediately, and they have a lot of sticks to beat the UK government with. The UK on the other hand has not so much as a twig. Its not going to be pretty, but it is going to be funny to watch.
And yet, almost all good intell out of Iran today is said to be coming out over Iran-banned Starlink.
Shirley, a subscription to access this site will allow recognising those who are abusing the system. My memory goes back to child abuse sites being subscription only, which led to the identification of that well known ‘ internet researcher’_ Pete Townsend. It may be interesting to learn of well known names being identified in the future.
Mr Ed – as you know Western governments do not use gold or silver, or any commodity, as money. They create money from nothing – by whim (fiat).
They only “borrow” this money (i.e. lend it out and borrow it back again – at a higher rate of interest) to enrich their associates in “The City”, “Wall Street” and so on – governments have no actual need to borrow the fiat money that they themselves, via their Central Banks, create.
They could just create the money and spend it – and the inflation would be no worse than the inflation created by creating the “money” (i.e. the fiat absurdity), lending it out – and borrowing it back again.
Although there is one problem with all this….
If governments did not go through the elaborate charade of creating the money (via their Central Bank or Federal Reserve), lending it out, and then borrowing it back again, the truth would become obvious to the public – the truth being that the entire monetary and financial system is a vast fraud.
If most people grasped the truth – then both government and its banking and other corporate associates, might well collapse.
Bank lending in a capitalist economy is from Real Savings (the actual sacrifice of consumption), and money (in a capitalist economy) is a commodity that people choose to value – before-and-apart-from its use as money.
bobby b
And yet, almost all good intell out of Iran today is said to be coming out over Iran-banned Starlink.
Yes, no doubt these brave souls are doing so at risk of life and limb. There is certainly a significant difference between Britain and Iran, or at least this is presently.
Not so sure anymore, of anywhere. Just got out of South Minneapolis, alive but with a broken side window. Check out our riots today. I think we’re about to have another Floyd-level week. Tens of thousands rioting, commie police in hide-mode, now 2600 federal officers doing battle.
I think maybe we’re all Iran today.
FYI: https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/2010104704316125653
Can X be run over TOR?