Trump admin issues ominous threat as UK mulls banning Musk's X: 'Nothing is off the table'
The Department of State has warned "nothing is off the table" should the UK move to ban Elon Musk's social media platform, X.
Donald Trump's administration representative, Sarah B. Rogers, weighed in on the investigation into X. Rogers, an under secretary of state for public diplomacy, says the department will wait for the verdict of OFCOM on Musk's platform before it responds. OFCOM, the UK's online safety and communications watchdog, is investigating X over concerns about AI-generated deepfakes spread on the platform.
Rogers, speaking to GB News, said, "I would say from America's perspective... nothing is off the table when it comes to free speech. Let's wait and see what OFCOM does and we'll see what America does in response. This is an issue dear to us, and I think we would certainly want to respond."
The Department of State representative said there was an increased interest from Trump and the administration in the investigation because the President and Vice President, JD Vance, are "huge champions" of free speech.
"Our leadership understands this because President Trump was himself a target of censorship," Rogers said. "President Trump was banned by Twitter - the old regime before Elon bought it."
"You have to take that comparison seriously. That's why our President cares about this issue - because people couldn't deal with his popularity, they couldn't deal with his success, and they tried to just shut him up so no one could hear him."
The Prime Minister of the UK, Keir Starmer, says the government will act fast should X fail the OFCOM investigation. He said, "If X cannot control Grok, we will - and we'll do it fast, because if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self regulate."
Despite Rogers' claims for protecting free speech, it appears Vice President JD Vance is on the side of regulating the social media app's AI tool. According to Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, both he and Vance are in agreement on what needs to happen with Grok's AI-generated images.
Lammy told The Guardian last week, "We discussed Greenland and I also raised with him the Grok issue and the horrendous, horrific situation in which this new technology is allowing deepfakes and the manipulation of images of women and children, which is just absolutely abhorrent. He agreed with me that it was entirely unacceptable."
"I think he recognised the very seriousness with which images of women and children could be manipulated in this way, and he recognised how despicable, unacceptable, that is and I found him sympathetic to that position. And in fact, we’ve been in touch again, today, about this very serious issue."