A senior US official has sparked a diplomatic row after comparing the UK Government’s potential ban on social media platform X to censorship tactics used in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Sarah Rogers, the US State Department’s under-secretary for public diplomacy, criticised UK ministers for threatening action against X over its AI tool Grok, which has been used to create deepfake images, including sexualised images of women and children. She claimed Britain was “contemplating a Russia-style X ban” to protect users from “bikini images”.
The comments come as UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall confirmed the Government would support regulator Ofcom if it chose to block access to X under the Online Safety Act. Ofcom is currently conducting an “expedited assessment” of X and its parent company xAI after reports of abusive and illegal content generated using Grok.
Elon Musk, owner of X and xAI, has accused the UK Government of being “fascist” and attempting to suppress free speech. Responding to data showing the UK leading in arrests over online posts, Musk asked: “Why is the UK Government so fascist?”
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy pushed back on the criticism, revealing that US Vice President JD Vance expressed sympathy with UK concerns during talks in Washington. Lammy said Vance agreed that AI-generated deepfakes involving women and children were “entirely unacceptable”.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Kendall defended the Government’s stance, warning tech firms that “platforms profiting from abuse will never be acceptable” and insisting innovation must not come at the cost of human dignity.
