Jess Phillips, the UK’s minister for protecting women and girls and preventing violence against them, restricted her use of X (formerly Twitter) after Elon Musk came to power. She described it as “a place of misery” and criticised Musk’s approach as “a bit despotic”.
Phillips expressed concern about the power and influence of social media companies on society and their potential to surpass the power of government due to a lack of democratic accountability.
Phillips was previously “massively addicted to Twitter” and removed the app from her phone because she was concerned about Musk’s control over what people see on the platform and the influence of social media companies in general.
During the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Phillips mentioned that she was “kind of done” with X. She referenced her past addiction, but stated that her exit was a way to exert power over social media companies and show her dissatisfaction with their current state.
A dispute arose between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Elon Musk; Musk called Starmer a “two-tier Keir” and criticized his approach to policing.
Musk said in the context of the recent unrest in the UK that not all communities in the UK are “protected” and tweeted that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, which Downing Street criticised as unjustified.
Sources: The Guardian, Standard, AOL, Daily Mail.
