X is not above the law

Content warning: racial and religious hatred, terrorism and incitement to violence

When Elon Musk bought Twitter, he said he wouldn’t make it a “free-for-all hellscape” – but that’s exactly what has happened.

The social media platform owned by the world’s richest man is carrying horrific posts that, having taken legal advice, we believe are illegal under the Online Safety Act.

This is no accident. When he bought the site, Musk oversaw the sacking of moderators and the ripping out of some of the safety features that had kept the worst of the online world in check.

The UK’s Online Safety Act requires X to remove illegal content “swiftly”. But when we reported posts that incite racial and religious hatred – posts which we believe were unlawful – the company only removed 8%. We also reported over 150 posts to X that we believe incite violence or promote terrorism, but despite our evidence, 80% of posts that incite violence weren’t moderated, and 93% of the posts or accounts that glorify terrorism were allowed to stay on the site. 

The Online Safety Act exists for a reason – to protect the public from the darkest in human nature. And it can’t just be ignored. In November 2025 we filed a complaint to the regulator Ofcom with details of posts that we believe are illegal because they incite racial or religious hatred. We’ve now, together with Hope Not Hate, sent a letter to Ofcom with more evidence of illegal posts that are going unchecked, including those that promote terrorism or incite violence.

Taking on the toy of the richest man in the world is no laughing matter. Musk, in common with so many who preach the gospel of free speech, has a history of responding to criticism with legal threats – and they are backed by his extraordinary wealth. Many organisations we are working with on this complaint are frightened to go public with their concerns – and frankly so are we. But this is an important point of principle – no-one is above the law.

In accordance with our transparency principles, we published both the legal submissions and the appendix of X posts for our first complaint, and we are now publishing the letter sent to Ofcom in March 2026. Please be aware that they contain highly offensive material.