Sources: England and Wales' attorney general tells his office to stop posting on X, a first for the UK government, amid worries about X inciting violence
Exclusive: Richard Hermer's office understood to be first in government to restrict use after recent riots
Context & Ripple Effects
UK scrutiny of X has broadened from platform-level concerns about tools being used to incite violence during the 2024 riots to direct government engagement over compliance with UK rules on non-consensual sexual images. The attorney general’s office is now reportedly translating those concerns into its own communications policy.
This matters because the office is understood to be the first UK government body to restrict its posting on X, turning an abstract safety and compliance dispute into a practical institutional withdrawal.
First-order effects
- Richard Hermer’s office stops using X for posts, reducing the platform’s role as a direct channel for that government office.
- The move publicly signals that concerns about violence on X are serious enough to alter official communications practice, despite X’s reported indication that it was acting to comply with UK law.
Second-order effects
- Other UK public bodies will face pressure to reassess whether their own use of X is compatible with safety, reputational, and public-information responsibilities.
- The decision strengthens the case for government efforts to ensure public-service news is more visible on social and video platforms, as official institutions seek reliable routes to audiences beyond a single platform.
Third-order effects
- If more agencies follow, platform governance will increasingly affect not only what services may host but whether public institutions treat them as legitimate channels for civic communication.
- The pattern points toward a more interventionist UK approach in which platform compliance, distribution design, and access to trusted public information are treated as connected policy questions.
The trend: UK institutions are moving from monitoring social-platform harms to using their own communications choices and distribution rules as leverage over platform accountability.