← Back to News · Archive
Police forces withdraw from X after Elon Musk takeover
27 November 2024
British police forces have begun withdrawing from X after Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform, a survey has found. The Telegraph has the story:
In October, it emerged that North Wales Police had ceased posting on X.
In a statement at the time, Amanda Blakeman, the chief constable of North Wales Police, said that it was important that they were able to “communicate timely, factual and relevant information to our communities”.
She added: “This was becoming increasingly difficult to achieve on X as a platform. Alongside this, we also felt that the platform was no longer consistent with our values, and therefore we have withdrawn our use of it.”
Others are now moving in the same direction, according to a survey carried out by Reuters.
Reuters visually monitored posts on X from 44 police services and British Transport Police over the three months to Nov 13.
It focused on ones that had noticeably fewer posts, comparing their output to a year previously.
West Midlands Police, one of Britain’s biggest police forces which serves the second city of Birmingham, reduced its X posts by around 95 per cent in annual terms in that period.
Lancashire Constabulary cut its usage of X by around three-quarters compared with a year ago.
“We understand that, as the digital landscape changes, so too does our audiences’ channels of choice,” the force said.
Derbyshire Constabulary, which serves around a million people in central England, made its last original post on Aug. 12 and has responded only to queries since.
It said it was reviewing its social media presence.
Other forces said X remained useful for updates on things such as road closures, but platforms like Facebook and Instagram were better for reaching communities.
North Wales Police is the only force to officially quit the social media platform completely. X did not respond to a request for comment.
The Telegraph previously revealed The Guardian would stop posting on X, as it accused Mr Musk of failing to stop “disturbing content” including “far-Right conspiracy theories and racism”.
Worth reading in full.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV1gTzAf9vI
Troubled that British police forces are quitting X because Elon Musk let gender-critical feminists and conservative commentators back on — while the same forces arrest people for tweets and log non-crime hate incidents?
The FSU holds police to their impartiality duty — because forces that take sides on contested political questions are not policing by consent, they are policing by ideology. Join 40,000+ members. From £29.99/year.
Join the FSU Today