Max Thompson is Campaigns Officer at the Free Speech Union
Lisa Nandy has quit X. The Secretary of State responsible for media — and therefore responsible for overseeing social media platforms — has thrown her toys out of the pram and left the free speech platform.
On Thursday evening, Nandy took to X and posted: “I’ve decided to leave this platform and my Department will too. 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.”
Well, when has Lisa Nandy ever cared about free speech?
For the last two years — while simultaneously helping her old pal Andy Burnham return to Parliament — Nandy has served as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in Sir Keir Starmer’s government. Starmer’s administration has been the most authoritarian in modern British history, and many of the policies it has either got onto the statute book, or tried very hard to with minimal parliamentary scrutiny, have posed a direct threat to freedom of speech.
Where was Lisa Nandy’s outrage when it was revealed that more than thirty people a day are arrested for “offensive” posts and messages made on social media platforms, at the same time as ninety per cent of crimes went unsolved across the country in 2023?
Has Nandy voiced any opposition to the Justice Secretary David Lammy’s plan to curb our ancient right to trial by jury — a move that has united judges, lawyers, opposition MPs, Labour backbenchers, and even victims of crime against this unworkable, undemocratic, and sinister proposal? No. Silence from the purported champion of free speech.
In fact, it was Nandy who appeared in the House of Commons only last week to set out the Government’s plans, contained in its new green paper Watch This Space, to force social media companies to prioritise what the Government deems “trustworthy” news sources — a policy that is deeply dystopian, if by now unsurprising from this shameless government.
In announcing her departure, Nandy also claimed that she believed X now poses a threat to democracy. This is a striking position from someone who was conspicuously silent when Sir Keir Starmer and the Communities Secretary, Steve Reed, initially tried to cancel a string of local elections earlier this year.
It is also curious that Nandy was free to leave the platform at all, given that her Cabinet colleague Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, indicated earlier this year that she would consider banning British citizens from accessing X altogether — a platform that has drawn both applause and criticism for its championing of free speech under Elon Musk’s ownership.
If Nandy was genuinely concerned about the spread of misinformation and disinformation on X, her departure looks less like principled protest than an abdication of duty. She should have stayed and engaged in the debate. More conversation, not less, is the antidote to disinformation online. Instead, she has vacated the stage.
What should concern us all is Nandy’s proximity to her constituency neighbour, the self-styled “King of the North” and our next Prime Minister, Andy Burnham. Should Nandy remain in Cabinet, she will be the minister tasked with carrying out the wishes of Andy Burnham — and Love Actually‘s Hugh Grant — which is, of course, bringing the free British press under increased state regulation.
Burnham has long been a fierce advocate of greater state regulation of the press and was swept to victory in the Makerfield by-election with the support of the veteran actor and press regulation campaigner Hugh Grant. As Shadow Home Secretary under Jeremy Corbyn, Burnham campaigned for the second part of the Leveson Inquiry, calling it “non-negotiable.” He was also a proponent of Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, legislation designed to force news publishers to join a state-backed regulator.
As the Government pushes ahead with plans to ban under-16s from accessing social media, explores banning VPNs, and moves to dictate what constitutes “trustworthy” news, we should all be watching closely to see how strong Lisa Nandy’s resolve on the principle of free speech really turns out to be.
Max Thompson is Campaigns Officer at the Free Speech Union
Lisa Nandy has quit X. The Secretary of State responsible for media — and therefore responsible for overseeing social media platforms — has thrown her toys out of the pram and left the free speech platform.
On Thursday evening, Nandy took to X and posted: “I’ve decided to leave this platform and my Department will too. 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.”
Well, when has Lisa Nandy ever cared about free speech?
For the last two years — while simultaneously helping her old pal Andy Burnham return to Parliament — Nandy has served as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in Sir Keir Starmer’s government. Starmer’s administration has been the most authoritarian in modern British history, and many of the policies it has either got onto the statute book, or tried very hard to with minimal parliamentary scrutiny, have posed a direct threat to freedom of speech.
Where was Lisa Nandy’s outrage when it was revealed that more than thirty people a day are arrested for “offensive” posts and messages made on social media platforms, at the same time as ninety per cent of crimes went unsolved across the country in 2023?
Has Nandy voiced any opposition to the Justice Secretary David Lammy’s plan to curb our ancient right to trial by jury — a move that has united judges, lawyers, opposition MPs, Labour backbenchers, and even victims of crime against this unworkable, undemocratic, and sinister proposal? No. Silence from the purported champion of free speech.
In fact, it was Nandy who appeared in the House of Commons only last week to set out the Government’s plans, contained in its new green paper Watch This Space, to force social media companies to prioritise what the Government deems “trustworthy” news sources — a policy that is deeply dystopian, if by now unsurprising from this shameless government.
In announcing her departure, Nandy also claimed that she believed X now poses a threat to democracy. This is a striking position from someone who was conspicuously silent when Sir Keir Starmer and the Communities Secretary, Steve Reed, initially tried to cancel a string of local elections earlier this year.
It is also curious that Nandy was free to leave the platform at all, given that her Cabinet colleague Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, indicated earlier this year that she would consider banning British citizens from accessing X altogether — a platform that has drawn both applause and criticism for its championing of free speech under Elon Musk’s ownership.
If Nandy was genuinely concerned about the spread of misinformation and disinformation on X, her departure looks less like principled protest than an abdication of duty. She should have stayed and engaged in the debate. More conversation, not less, is the antidote to disinformation online. Instead, she has vacated the stage.
What should concern us all is Nandy’s proximity to her constituency neighbour, the self-styled “King of the North” and our next Prime Minister, Andy Burnham. Should Nandy remain in Cabinet, she will be the minister tasked with carrying out the wishes of Andy Burnham — and Love Actually‘s Hugh Grant — which is, of course, bringing the free British press under increased state regulation.
Burnham has long been a fierce advocate of greater state regulation of the press and was swept to victory in the Makerfield by-election with the support of the veteran actor and press regulation campaigner Hugh Grant. As Shadow Home Secretary under Jeremy Corbyn, Burnham campaigned for the second part of the Leveson Inquiry, calling it “non-negotiable.” He was also a proponent of Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, legislation designed to force news publishers to join a state-backed regulator.
As the Government pushes ahead with plans to ban under-16s from accessing social media, explores banning VPNs, and moves to dictate what constitutes “trustworthy” news, we should all be watching closely to see how strong Lisa Nandy’s resolve on the principle of free speech really turns out to be.