By Andy Bruce
(Reuters) – Several British police forces have largely withdrawn from Elon Musk's X social media platform as concerns persist over its role in promoting violence and extreme content, a Reuters investigation into its social media output shows. the armed forces.
X, formerly Twitter, was used to spread disinformation that sparked riots in Britain this summer and has reinstated British-based accounts that were banned for extremist content.
Musk's comment in August that civil war in Britain was “inevitable” drew rebukes from Downing Street and police leaders.
Critics claim Musk's approach promotes hate speech, although Musk has said he defends freedom of speech and has described Britain as a “police state”.
Reuters reported in October that North Wales Police had stopped posting on X. Others are moving in that direction, Tuesday's investigation showed.
Reuters visually checked the posts on
Reuters then contacted these eight forces.
West Midlands Police, one of Britain's largest police forces serving the second city of Birmingham, has reduced the number of X posts by around 95% year-on-year during that period.
Lancashire Police in the north of England have reduced the use of X by around three-quarters compared to a year ago.
“We understand that as the digital landscape changes, so do our audiences' favorite channels,” the force said.
And Derbyshire Police, which serves around a million people in central England, posted its last original message on August 12 and has only responded to queries since then. It said it was reviewing its social media presence.
X-COMMUNICATION
Other forces said X remained useful for updates on things like road closures, but that platforms like Facebook and Instagram were better at reaching communities.
X did not respond to a request for comment.
X has been a key communications tool for the UK government, public services, institutions and millions of people for more than a decade.
It had just over 10 million UK app users in October, compared to 4.5 million for Threads and 433,000 for Blue Sky, according to data from digital intelligence platform SimilarWeb.
But usage is falling, with the number of UK app users of X down 19% from a year ago, data from Similarweb shows.
The government still posts messages on X, but does not use it for paid communications. It will be advertised on Meta's Instagram and Facebook, a government source said last month.
