The office of the Attorney General for England and Wales, Richard Hermer, has reportedly stopped posting official updates on X, formerly Twitter, due to concerns about the platform being used to incite violence and racism. According to The Guardian and The Observer, Hermer told his staff to halt all activity on the social network after a surge in hateful content and misinformation.
The last post from the office was on June 12, a sharp contrast to its previously frequent updates about government initiatives. The decision followed the Southampton and Belfast riots earlier this month, where false information circulated on X fueled tensions. Misinformation about the murder of Henry Nowak, a fatal stabbing by a Sikh man, and a separate stabbing of a Dublin man by a Sudanese national, was widely shared, worsening community divisions.
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Misinformation and Elon Musk's Role
Far-right activists used X to spread disinformation and hatred toward immigrants, with owner Elon Musk amplifying their voices. High-profile personalities shared doctored bodycam footage from the Nowak case. Additionally, X's AI chatbot Grok wrongly identified two police officers involved in the investigation, leading to their personal details being circulated online.
In a recent speech about Britain staying with the European Court of Human Rights after Brexit, Hermer stated: "We simply cannot let a very small group of crypto-funded millionaires get away with using the debate about the ECHR to sow more division in this country."
A First for the UK Government
While Hermer's office is likely the first UK government department to quit X, it follows a trend of individual MPs leaving after Grok generated inappropriate images of women and children. Hermer reportedly told staff that the only reason to use X would be to correct misinformation, but he decided to leave entirely given the platform's failure to curb toxic content.
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This move raises questions about the role of social media in official communications. As noted in a related article about certifications lacking enforcement, platforms must be held accountable. The Attorney General's decision could prompt other institutions to reconsider their presence on X, especially as geopolitical tensions around AI and social media grow, similar to the SK Telecom and Anthropic controversy. The external link to Wikipedia provides more context on the platform's history.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2197975/uk-attorney-general-office-reportedly-quits-x
