Minister responsible for regulating social media quits X after two years of inaction

Lisa Nandy has announced that she and her government department for culture, media and sport are leaving the social media platform X as it:

favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate.

It isn’t healthy for our democracy or our communities and I don’t want to support it.

However, many have pointed out that one of Nandy’s crucial responsibilities for the last two years since taking up her position has been to regulate social media. Her decision to just walk away from the platform suggests she’s either giving up, or alternatively – and more likely – the trillionaire has made regulation impossible so she is admitting defeat and just walking away.

Either way, the public deserve a straight answer. Why has she walked away when almost every other government department and most politicians are still on X?

If she thinks Elon Musk has turned the platform into something that’s impossible to regulate or engage with responsibly, then she should stop hinting at it and just say it.

Left: Lisa Nandy complains about a lack of regulation on social media

Right: Lisa Nandy quitting Twitter because of a lack of regulation on social media

Your reminder that it's been Lisa Nandy's job for two years to regulate social media

Instead of doing her job, she's… pic.twitter.com/dJSqYB2U0l

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) July 2, 2026

Social media needs to be regulated

We know X is a cesspit of the very worst of human behaviour – most often abuse from men – with misogyny, bigotry, incitement of violence, and racism rampant across the platform.

The problem became even more obvious earlier this year when AI-generated sexual abuse images started flooding online feeds. On top of that, users exploited Musk’s AI tool, Grok, to generate large amounts of child sexual abuse material, sparking even more concerns about how little control there seems to be over this technology.

The government ordered Ofcom to “use all powers” against X back in January after this sordid reality came to light, due to the violent, sexualised deepfakes generated of women and children without consent. However, they didn’t have the necessary authority to investigate properly due to the chatbot element of xAI. That meant the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) had to step in.

Executive director of the ICO, William Malcolm, said at the time:

Our role is to address the data protection concerns at the centre of this, while recognising that other organisations also have important responsibilities. We are working closely with Ofcom and international regulators to ensure our roles are aligned and that people’s safety and privacy are protected. We will continue to work in partnership as part of our coordinated efforts to create trust in UK digital services.

Nevertheless, none of that seems to have made a bit of difference. Abuse and misinformation continue to thrive on X, and one Labour MP, Jess Asato, who was targeted by sexually explicit fake images has since taken legal action, arguing that her right to privacy was breached.

This suggests that the government might be fighting a losing battle due to the power of this lawless trillionaire tech megalomaniac, underscored further by Nandy’s choice to walk away. However, she’s fine with Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram.

1) It’s *literally* your job to regulate this platform.

2) If you can’t, what does that mean? Tell us.

3) The Dept of Culture is not ‘your’ department, it’s ours. You’re its temporary custodian

5) But Facebook is ok? Really? https://t.co/0tBJm3IfW6

— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) July 2, 2026

Musk and X are a law unto themselves, it seems

However, this has revealed a very disturbing fact. Social media platforms are leaning into allowing all manner of abuse online as it appears to be making good business sense for them. And, it’s a problem specifically compounded by Musk.

After all, we wrote about how this issue has only been made possible on Grok, with others recognising that these requests simply are not acceptable:

Reuters also noted that other popular chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Llama, would not produce the images when given identical prompts. In fact, most issued warnings against generating images, without the consent of the people they depict.

Now, the minister who was positioned to be able to hold this trillionaire tech giant to account has largely avoided introducing any real policies to make the platform safer and has now apparently accepted defeat and is walking away from X entirely.

But walking away from the platform doesn’t solve the problem. It doesn’t stop the abuse, the misinformation,  or the growing influence these companies have over public life. If anything, it leaves everyone else to deal with the consequences while those with the power to act step aside.

For instance, Nandy noticeably makes no calls for action, does not encourage others to leave the platform, and makes no comment regarding what she intends to do to take action in her privileged role in cabinet.

Social media: walking away instead of fixing it

As a result, it increasingly looks like the Culture Secretary has decided it’s easier to walk away than tackle the problem head-on. But the public shouldn’t let that be the end of the conversation. Millions of Brits still use X every day, and that’s exactly why we need a proper regulatory framework that makes the platform safer instead of leaving people to fend for themselves.

Given it was also used recently by Tommy Robinson to call for Pakistani men to be lynched, this issue is urgent and could have deadly consequences if it is not brought to task.

Some have raised the prospect that this may be a prelude to banning the app rather than hold it to higher standards:

Call me conspiratorial if you like but I think this is a prelude to an attempt at banning X https://t.co/7NtXmUoTBb

— Adam Wren (@aswren) July 2, 2026

Elites are becoming more powerful than government

For years, we’ve watched the super-rich throw their money around to buy influence, cosy up to politicians and push policies that make them even richer. More often than not, it’s the public who end up paying the price, whether that’s through weaker rights, less privacy, or having their personal data handed over for the next billionaire to cash in on.

That’s why Lisa Nandy walking away from X raises some pretty big questions. As a Cabinet minister with the power to help tackle the growing influence of Big Tech, what exactly is she saying by leaving?

If she thinks X is beyond regulating, she should just come out and say it. If the government can’t – or won’t – hold one of the world’s biggest social media platforms to account, then the public deserves to know.

After all, people have a right to know whether X and its billionaire owner are effectively beyond the reach of UK law.

At the very least, that would let people decide for themselves whether they want to stick with X or walk away too.

Featured image via the Canary