In a move that surprised absolutely no one who has ever scrolled through X, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has announced she and her entire department are leaving Elon Musk's platform. In what is presumably her final post (unless she gets banned first), Nandy declared that X "isn't healthy for our democracy or our communities and I don't want to support it." She added that a platform "originally designed for free speech and expression now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate" - which is a bit like saying a car designed for driving now favours crashing.

The culture department becomes the second government department to abandon X, following the attorney general's office. Several MPs also jumped ship earlier this year after reports that X's AI tool Grok was being used to generate sexualised images, including of children. Because nothing says "free speech" like an AI that can deepfake your kid.

Nandy says she'll continue to use Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn - presumably because those platforms have never been accused of, say, spreading misinformation or hosting toxic content. Attorney General Lord Hermer, who banned his office from X last month, told MPs the platform "constantly descends to racism and misogyny" and that his department "can do better." He noted he can engage in "serious debate, detailed debate, respectful debate" without being on a platform that makes Twitter's worst days look like a polite book club.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also accused Musk of using X to "whip up division" in the UK following the murder of student Henry Nowak last month. Violent protests erupted in Southampton after bodycam footage showed police handcuffing the 18-year-old as he lay dying. His killer, Vickrum Digwa, had claimed he was the victim of a racist attack. Musk, never one to miss an opportunity to weigh in on something he knows nothing about, criticised the police treatment of the teenager.

X has previously stated that "anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content" - which is reassuring, assuming the consequences actually materialise.