The attorney general for England and Wales, Richard Hermer, has instructed his office to cease posting on X, marking the first UK government department to abandon the Elon Musk-owned platform amid increasing worries about its use to incite violence and racism.
Hermer's office last posted on X on Friday, and officials have been told to no longer use the site unless specifically to combat disinformation there. Downing Street has repeatedly defended the use of the platform by departments, despite its owner calling for the UK government to be overthrown and the site being regularly criticized for promoting far-right and racist opinions. Officials argue it is necessary to reach the public.
However, Hermer's move signals a shift as ministers grow increasingly concerned about the impact of social media. The decision came after disorder in Southampton and Belfast earlier this month, with Hermer worried about how X, more than other platforms, is being used by bad actors to divide communities. He understands why other government departments remain on the site but chose to restrict its use in his own department.
In Southampton, eleven police officers were injured during violence sparked by protesters claiming to demonstrate over the case of Henry Nowak, who was handcuffed as he lay dying from a stab wound after his killer falsely reported a racist assault. Six days later, Belfast saw violence after far-right activists called for demonstrations following a stabbing attack for which a 30-year-old Sudanese refugee was charged with attempted murder. One Northern Irish MP compared the disorder to a “pogrom” after homes of minority ethnic communities were targeted and health workers were stopped and questioned about their backgrounds.
Far-right agitators, often endorsed by Musk, called for protests and a furious response in both cases. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Keir Starmer threatened X with being blocked in the UK if it did not act on sexualized images produced by its Grok AI tool, which X soon addressed. But after the Belfast riots, No 10 said action would be left to Ofcom, the media regulator, which could take around two months. Ministers plan to amend the Online Safety Act to require faster removal of inflammatory content during crises, but this will not take effect until mid-July at the earliest.
On Monday, Downing Street announced a ban on many social media sites for under-16s, going further than Australia’s similar move. Hermer, known to back action against social media, including the under-16s ban, spoke this week about the importance of maintaining Britain’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, taking aim at social media platforms. He said: “We simply cannot let a very small group of crypto-funded millionaires of this world get away with using the debate about the ECHR or drawing closer to the EU to sow more division in this country – we cannot allow them to draw lines between our communities.”
This article and its headline were amended on 19 June 2026. An earlier version said that Richard Hermer was the attorney general for the UK; his role covers England and Wales.
