Ministers may try to curb spread of misinformation during social unrest

Technology secretary Liz Kendall says she is ‘very concerned’ about role of social media but will not be ‘bullied off’ X

The government is considering fresh action to halt the spread of misinformation during public crises, Liz Kendall has said, insisting she will not be “bullied off” Elon Musk’s X.

The technology secretary was speaking after rioting broke out in Southampton over the police response to the fatal stabbing of Henry Nowak, a case about which Musk has repeatedly posted.

She said she was “very concerned” about the role of social media platforms in times of unrest, adding: “I definitely think, particularly during moments of crisis and disorder and when public safety is important, we need to look at what more we can do.”

Kendall pointed to a report last year from the Commons science, innovation and technology committee that called for Ofcom to implement “crisis response protocols” to hold platforms responsible for misinformation.

The media regulator has consulted on the issue, with more details expected to be announced this month. The committee launched its investigation after the riots of summer 2024, when misinformation spread quickly after the murder of three girls at a dance class in Southport.

Its report found that “misleading and hateful messaging proliferated rapidly online, amplified by the recommendation algorithms of social media companies”.

Kendall said the government was “looking at not only boosting trusted sources of information, which I think is extremely important and there’s probably more we could do there. But also, you know, enabling people to reset their algorithms.”

She added: “I think lots of people think they see this stuff coming towards them. And it should be much easier for people to say ‘let’s have a reset’ – so I am looking at that again.”

Chi Onwurah, the chair of the committee, said: “The government must do more to stop the spread of misinformation online. My committee’s report found the Online Safety Act to be woefully inadequate and riddled with regulatory gaps – yet most of our recommendations for how to improve this were rejected.

“Since then, the secretary of state has told my committee that the report was ‘excellent’. However, a year after its publication, no progress has been made to update the OSA. Our current regulation just isn’t up to scratch.”

On Thursday, Keir Starmer accused Musk of “interfering in our politics” . However, Kendall said: “I understand my colleagues, why they don’t want to be there [on social media], but I didn’t want to be bullied off any platform.

“I’m going to get the government’s message out; hopefully to some people who want to hear it and definitely to those who don’t. Because I want to say that this government stands for hope and not hate.”

Musk has repeatedly highlighted the Nowak case to his 240m followers on X . One of his posts, sharing comments from the far-right MP Rupert Lowe, simply said “RAGE”. It was viewed more than 25m times.

Kendall’s last post on X, about a visit to Liverpool University to highlight taxpayer backing for innovation, was viewed 5,500 times and shared eight times.

The Labour MP Jess Asato is taking legal action against Musk’s xAI company over demeaning sexualised material created by its Grok AI tool that spread across X earlier this year.

The prime minister praised Asato’s decision on Thursday, saying she was “absolutely right” to take action.

Analysis by the human rights group Amnesty last year claimed X’s algorithms had contributed to what it called a “staggering amplification of hate” after the Southport murders.

The Commons committee said the Online Safety Act, which was not fully in force at the time of the 2024 riots, did not contain adequate measures to contain misinformation.

Kendall said: “I think from the initial idea and discussion to implementation [of the act] was eight years. It is a long time. It’s too long. It’s too slow. This technology is developing so rapidly. MPs vote on a finance bill every year. It can’t be beyond the wit of man or even womankind to do things more quickly.”