For a man so often accused of dithering, Keir Starmer’s ban on social media has come at lightning speed. As always the devil will be in the detail of how to enforce the new rules. On both sides of the argument are powerful and thoughtful advocates – it’s unworkable, it’s a sledgehammer approach and it penalises young people rather than the tech companies who create the algorithms that we know cause so much damage and distress. The other view is that a law will help parents, carers and teachers and even if not perfect, it will begin the culture change that’s so badly needed to break the scrolling cycle.
But what about the adults who are coerced, encouraged, motivated and enraged by social media? The ones who follow the likes of Tommy Robinson and their oh so nuanced calls to action which we’ve seen realised on the streets of Southampton and Belfast. Rabble rousing via social media is a new business model that makes many people, including Robinson, Rupert Lowe, Lee Anderson and Nigel Farage a lot of money. It’s a simple scheme – the more outrageous, hateful and extreme the posts, the more attention or ‘likes’ means more money in the coffers not just of those posting but of Musk and his fellow tech titans. This vile trade in bile is augmented by anonymous bots – rogue or hostile states – to foment and distort, spewing out lies all with the simple intention of creating division and social breakdown. And it works.
The LibDems have been pushing for a ban on MPs accepting payments from X and Ed Davey’s made no secret of his loathing for the Trump administration which has promised to fund parties and thinktanks aligned with the MAGA hard-right agenda. Elon Musk just can’t help endorsing far-right and racist ideas – and the MPs who get money from posting on X are effectively helping the trillionaire junkie to funnel money into the UK’s political system to distort and divide.
So, yes there should be a ban on any elected politician getting paid for posting on any social media platform but here’s another idea – the government should come off X.
We’ve seen what goes wrong with disappearing WhatsApp messages, never mind those inconvenient social media messages from years ago when someone ‘didn’t think’, ‘wouldn’t say it now’ or whatever utter cobblers they come up with to excuse a lack of judgement or plain common sense. But while we all wring our hands about how the proposed social media ban for kids might work and fail to take on the tech companies, the grown ups could set an example and say enough – make X ex.
