Free speech advocates from America and other Western nations are warning Great Britain of serious consequences if its government bans a popular U.S.-based social media platform in the ultimate censorship move.
The left-leaning Labour Party that currently dominates the U.K. government is threatening to ban X over alleged widespread use of its artificial intelligence Grok for sexualizing photos, per GB News. Free speech advocates are cautioning that this would be a dangerous censorship move, with U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) even proposing to push legislation to sanction Great Britain should it follow through on the threat.
Luna posted on X Thursday, “If Starmer is successful in banning @X in Britain, I will move forward with legislation that is currently being drafted to sanction not only Starmer, but Britain as a whole.” The congresswoman attributed the problems with AI cited by U.K. authorities as technical bugs.
She compared the proposed ban to an equally anti-free speech move from a South American nation:
“This would mirror actions previously taken by the United States in response to foreign governments restricting the platform, including the dispute with Brazil in 2024–2025, which resulted in tariffs, visa revocations, and sanctions and consequences tied to free speech concerns against Brazilian officials over concerns related to censorship and free-speech violations. Starmer should reconsider this course of action, or there will be consequences.”
Ben Leo, host of GB News’ The Late Show Live rejected the U.K. government’s justification for the proposed band by the AI misuse. “It is the equivalent of like, trying to shut down Microsoft Word or Excel because drug dealers might use it to list how much money they’re making,” he said.
Similarly, independent journalist Ian Miles Cheong accused U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer of using the AI issues as an excuse to crush political dissent.
“Keir Starmer wants to ban X because he doesn’t want the people to speak out against his regime’s policies, which have enabled Islamist radicals [to] infiltrate every level of British society,” Cheong argued on Friday. He included a headline about the United Arab Emirates allegedly restricting its students from attending U.K universities over fears of Islamic radicalization.
Canadian author Tom Quiggin weighed in, too: “If Prime Minister Starmer goes ahead and bans X/Twitter in the UK, this may mark the beginning of the end for his government. It may be the beginning of massive social unrest and violence in the UK,” he posted Friday.
The British government has increasingly cracked down on social media posts in recent years, with over 9,000 arrests for free speech just in 2024, according to police data shared with The Daily Mail. For instance, comedy writer Graham Linehan was arrested in Britain last year for transgender-critical posts he made while he was in the United States.
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