UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy quits X, DCMS leaves platform
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy quits TwitterX. This should be the first of many.
Mark Chadbourn226Doesn’t do Bluesky though - only Facebook, Insta and bizarrely LinkedIn.
Dan Pelligrino58Good news but jesus it took long enough.
Coolhandluke49Begs the question - why does the BBC still have hundreds of X accounts? Time for the BBC to fully withdraw from that platform. Ideally with weeks.
Ben Taylor30She is quite literally the culture secretary. Does regulation of platforms like X not fall within her remit? I'm glad she's recognised the threat finally but FTLOG why is the only reaction to belatedly skulk off the platform?
Innocent🕷Abroad26Didn’t the Ministry of Justice leave recently? She may not be the first.
Jason Sinclair17*second. Attorney General left a month ago.
Kari Haakana34Siitä mallia, suomalaiset ministerit ja ministeriöt.
Richie Daiches Barlow18The fact they’ve left it until now is quite telling. Many of us verified users left that platform years ago, we saw what it was becoming and made that choice to leave.
K a s s i e D e e18Waiting for Canadian MPs, MPPs and MLAs to do the same.
Canadian Cynic6Dear Mark Carney: What the fuck in the fucking fuck are you waiting for, you pandering fascist?
Mike Murphy5Today as ever is a good day to encourage friends, colleagues and family members to get off Twitter
Karen D Shipp4Nandy takes Ministry of Culture Media and Sport off Twitter. Hurrah. It's interesting, and mostly cheering, to see the choices being taken by Starmer and his cabinet, as they realise this may be their last chance to benefit the UK, in the particular positions of power that they hold.
Alan Stedman42nd Dept I believe What's taking the others so long. All they do is shout into a right wing echo chamber
Scott in Montreal🇨🇦2All serious people and organizations should abandon Musk's enshittified platform. It's like putting your letters into the toilet instead of a mailbox.
Jack Russell2This is great news. Now for everyone else @eddavey.libdems.org.uk @naomilong.bsky.social . You had a chance to lead the way, but second best is leaving right now.
Stuart Aken2It's great to see some true morality overtaking the general quest for profit over everything else.
Kudos to Lisa Nandy for leaving X today - and taking her department with her. Hope she and DCMS are on here soon enough
AndroidMark8Surely part of her job is forcing it to not be those things?
Katharine Kite 5Weak - ‘I don’t want to support it’ How about ‘this department will not collude with owners of platforms inciting violence against women, girls, people of colour & LGBTQ+ people & which financially supports those that carry out such violence. We intend to hold such individuals to account under law’
Coolhandluke3Surely the BBC needs to follow suit? DCMS are literally negotiating the Charter with the BBC and have clearly spelled out their views about that platform - yet the BBC has hundreds of X accounts. That is unsustainable.
TweetJohnnyBoy2She's done something positive. How about she sorts out the BBC?
Naught Followers (you drove Popehat away, you absolute ghouls!)1I swear she has an account here, but I must be mistaken
Dreadnought Holiday155Nandy must be absolutely furious with the person whose department is responsible for overseeing this stuff, assuming she ever finds out who they are.
Mrs Quent8Does make me wonder if Starmer’s number 10 had told ministers they needed to stay on X
Sorry Buddy5Electeds are the second-most trendchasing group I've ever met (after c suites). If you're in Canada, the UK or any other democracy, this is a great reason to write your electeds, note that other elected politicians are leaving X, and ask whether they will do the same.
SanguinePar2The best time to do this was some years ago, but the second best time is now, so good stuff 👍 Hopefully this presages more government departments leaving, and also the government cracking down on the platform itself.
Lisa Nandy announces she is leaving X. “A platform originally designed for free speech and expression now 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”
Matt Edwards17If only a humble Secretary of State for Culture could do more than rage quit.
Caroline Jackson14Good about time! UK Labour party & their MPs should follow suit & come over here.
Fazackerly Butterworth-Toast13About time. The entire UK govt and civil service should quit X.
mja6612She's only just noticed? Better late than never. Just good to know she's still awake.
Age Garton7I sincerely hope more follow.
Matt Severn6She is culture secretary. She can take meaningful action to curb X. She’s had 2 years to take meaningful action.
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is quitting X -- significantly her department is too, she says.
Stephen Kinsella10That’s a start. Now we need them here.
ala8.bsky.social3Any decent MP should do the same, just a cesspit of hate and misinformation by that fascist Musk
keithstrasse.bsky.social1Nandy at least can see which way the wind is blowing (although she usually sits on the fence until she finds out!).
Richard Walker1Possibly her last action as a minister given how disinterested she appears to be in being one, but at least it is a positive one!
Dexter Crisp1"A platform originally designed for free speech and expression" I thought it was designed for funny cat videos?
BeefReeferLives1A good start. Now get off of Zuck's petty little hate machines.
James Ball88Fascinating that she's done this now, after two years of total inactivity – and a week or two of briefing that she was likely to be promoted. Notably, she doesn't have an account here (yet?).
Marlowe_UK39The beginning of the Labour government leaving X has started
Molly Scott Cato28At last Let's hope the rest of government will follow And that the new Burnham government will have the courage to #BanX altogether
Gregory Norminton18Two years late, but I'll take it. Now for the whole of UK government to do the same.
GuyD13This should not even have been in doubt for any and every government department
Ashpolt4One down, far too many still to go.
yyzkas.bsky.social2All levels of government in Canada should follow suit of the UK Culture Secretary and stop patronizing X / Twitter. The racist, & manipulative forum promoted by E. Musk is no platform to serve Canadians #MarkCarney #EvanSolomon #MelanieJolie #DougFord #ONpoli #CDNpoli bsky.app/profile/psmi...
Jan Willem Goudriaan2But @ec.europa.eu Commissioners remain actively feeding a platform used to abuse and misinform And she is right It undermines democracy
Lisa Nandy currently engaged in the greatest last-minute attempt to feign interest in culture since I tried to read the second half of Sons And Lovers the night before my English A-Level.
JudithFlanders3Lisa Nandy also appears to think that abandoning (finally) a pro-Nazi social-media site for a company mired in genocidal engagement and political corruption is some kind of feat of probity and grace.
Sloppy333There’s a SECOND half?!! Oh God in heaven…
Martin2I heard a few days ago that Lisa Nandy was ‘minded’ to object to a media company takeover of some sort. That makes two decisions in one week. Looks like someone is trying to look like they can do their job for when the new boss starts.
Danspur1Christ I hated that book.
theangelofhistory.bsky.social1She’s doing the equivalent of putting the book under her pillow and hoping she’ll absorb it in her sleep
DameV171I successfully ignored one of my French texts, having worked out at most it was worth 2.5% so was pointless as well as tedious.
Lisa Nandy clearing her desk in hope of a new job and discovering a weird wired basket with INTRAY written on it. What's this she thinks and starts to read the papers inside it...
Chairman Moët26Brow furrowed, rifling through the papers, dated from months ago, only stopping to say things like "GB NEWS did WHAT?!" or "What the fuck is [Michael] Grade playing at?!"
Indy4It’s the most bizarre few days.
Chris Nimmo3Sounds very apt ! What has she done for two years ????
Simon Robert H K1Yes yes yes. #inertia. She did nothing at all!
Oh look, the person in charge of regulating social media has chosen not to regulate social media 🤷♂️ Is Lisa Nandy quitting Twitter instead of regulating to fix Twitter, incompetentence, cowardice, or both?
Devaney 🇬🇧🇩🇪14Being on there legitimises the platform. All government departments should have removed themselves from X the moment Musk gave his Nazi salute, or before. She doesn’t need to be on X anymore than on Tiky Toky to regulate them.
Tarquin7Or maybe she just doesn't want to be on there any more. I applaud her decision to leave. Everyone decent should leave too. Even if she does try to get it fixed, do you think musk will play ball?
JR Tomlin (she/her)6Wait. Let me get this straight. You are criticising her for leaving a fascist platform? *blinks*
Indyref_Chris6I'm no fan of Nandy, but I'm not going to criticise her for this long overdue decision. The entire political apparatus should follow her lead
Jac 🩵 🍉6Exactly, far easier to leave than use HER job to regulate, more appeasement of the tech companies that have free rein in the UK, Palantir anyone???
Ruth Shaw2I regard this move as a possible start toward a better way forward. Easy to criticise.
Culture Lisa Nandy MP follows the Attorney General in quitting Twitter/X. She notes the platform has changed: "a platform originally designed for free speech and expression now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate".
Snigdha77The Attorney General Richard Hermer was the first to tell his office to stop posting on Twitter/X, last month, the first UK government department to stop using the platform amid increasing worries about misinformation and its use to incite violence and racism. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Tarquin10Good, but really odd she's continuing with Facebook & Instagram, considering both those places are as bad as X. I have 1st hand experience with FB, but am going by what I've heard re: Instagram. There's not a lot of difference between zuckerberg & musk, imho.
Phil Lowthian4Little by little but nowhere near quickly enough by the @gov.uk
Mike here, hello4Just Meta from now on for her 🙈
Steve 🏳️🌈🇬🇧3It's hard for me not to be cynical at her timing!
Simon Evans2Most right-minded people left years ago.
Lisa Nandy has announced she and her department are leaving X. After many MPs such as me, then the Attorney General a couple of weeks ago, perhaps this is the snowball starting to roll?
Philip Creegan6Please urge your parliamentary colleagues 🙏
Carl H3Good for you and her. No decent government expected to set an example should be using such a platform to communicate. If it is so important and the only considered means to engage and get the message across then how about the UK Govt develop their own...now there's a thought🤔
stephena77.bsky.social2I certainly hope so. It has been a long time coming.
serena-spencer-esq.bsky.social2I hope UK bans Twitter. Musk has been interfering in your politics and hyping up #RaceWars there, just like here. U.S. refuses to extricate itself from enmeshment with Musk, despite how he & DOGE compromised us. His twitter is just hateful propaganda, porn, bullying & racism. 🚩Save yourselves.🇬🇧
Ruth Shaw1About time. X is a cess pit. I left ages ago.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy says she and the DCMS as a department are leaving X, adding: "It isn't healthy for our democracy or our communities and I don’t want to support it." No Bluesky account yet though...
James Bottomley3Hopefully the first of many. A site where the owner posts neo-Nazi films and routinely smears Britain's way of life and democracy is no fit place for UK government departments and agencies.
Andrew Allen2if she searches bluesky and sees what people say about her...don't think she'll want to join
Nick R1I did not expect the most useless Secretary of State to be the first one to do this
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy says DCMS will leave X This follows Elon Musk's radicalisation into the increasingly open advocacy of violence - here pro-assassinations + collective racist violence versus migrants & minorities.
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)14The radicalised billionaire believes Britain is already in an inevitable civil war. So this man,who grew up in an apartheid state, spends his time & his platform's enormous reach to try to persuade more people to see pre-emptive racist violence in Britain as legitimate. bsky.app/profile/sund...
PhilT6021Well done Lisa. Now what about the rest of those civil servants perpetuating Musk's evil X empire?
The thing is… if a future DCMS secretary does choose to re-engage, it’s a now a bit of a statement in the other direction isn’t it.
Steve Parks1Right decision, and hopefully for the right reasons - but yes, there may also be a bit of ministerial pissing in the pool about the timing. Or maybe just finally trying to do something that people notice as she jostles for a job?
BetterBert1For the foreseeable future it's a statement we can assume won't be made. Not by a sane politician anyway. Figures from last year but I don't think inserting himself into Northern Ireland violence will have improved them much.
