Twitter

A credulous, paranoid chancer, Musk has risen to fame through luck and other people’s hard work

Elon Musk wants you right where he can see you

The social network has been reprogrammed in a way that seems to encourage disinformation

The need to tackle the likes of Google and Facebook is obvious. But is Brussels fighting the right battles?

The QAnon cult is spreading – with deadly consequences. How can we stop it and its successors?

Elon Musk has hollowed out the social network just as a vital election cycle approaches

Would there have been the same furore over his Twitter posts if Gary was a Gerhard?

What does Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter really have to do with our 21st-century complex over free speech?

After all, once he’s free of Twitter he’ll be looking for something else to do

London mayoral hopeful Laurence Fox used the launch of his manifesto to defend his right to call people “paedophiles” on Twitter, citing free speech and claiming it is just a “meaningless and baseless” insult. The former actor, who founded the Reclaim Party, is being sued by Stonewall trustee Simon Blake, Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp […]

The chairman of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities has defended it against accusations of putting a “positive spin on slavery and empire”, saying that to suggest it was “trying to downplay the evil of the slave trade” is “absurd”. The commission’s report into racial disparities in Britain, published on Wednesday, was hit by […]

A Good Morning Britain (GMB) presenter has criticised Nigel Farage for blaming the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement for some of the Bristol riots on Sunday evening. Thousands took the streets over the weekend to protest against legislation giving police increased powers to shut down peaceful protests. Demonstrations turned ugly when protesters began hurling projectiles at officers and set vehicles […]

A Tory minister has raised eyebrows after claiming “British wind” will soon fuel homes across the UK. Paul Scully, a minister at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), made the announcement during an interview on Sky News, in which he promoted a new government pledge of £95million in funding for offshore wind farms in […]

A town council meeting which descended into chaos — with councillors trading insults and ultimately getting booted off the Zoom call — has become an unlikely internet sensation. After clips of the Handforth Parish Council meeting were uploaded to Twitter, it was soon shared thousands of times. The name of one of the meeting’s participants, […]

Twitter users have chided Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns for a post she sent celebrating the one year anniversary of Brexit. Jenkyns, a Brexiteer, posted a photo of herself with constituents celebrating Britain’s formal exit from the EU on January 31, 2020. “A year ago today when we had our ‘Big Brexit Bash’ Celebration in Morley. Happy […]

Baroness Buscombe has been compared to a Red Dwarf character and British pop band Queen following her “floating head” appearance during a Lords Zoom call. Buscombe, a Tory peer, gave a statement about the Covid vaccine roll-out, calling on the next batch of doses to be given to the clinically vulnerable under 70. But the statement drew […]

A Brussels politician has recommended Boris Johnson “pay for EU workers to stay” in the UK in a direct swipe at the government’s voluntary scheme to repatriate them. Former Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt said it was Britain’s “loss” and the EU’s “gain” after hearing about a scheme by the Home Office to pay EU nationals to voluntarily return […]

A former Brexit Party MEP who owns a seafood company and campaigned on fishing being ‘great’ for coastal communities across the UK has said Boris Johnson’s deal has left her with “no fish”. June Mummery said waiting five years for fishing quotas to expire was “a long time when you have nothing”. Mummery, who campaigned during with […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he has been told to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus. Sir Keir wrote on Twitter: “This morning I was notified that I must self isolate after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19. “I have no […]

A picture of Boris Johnson on the phone to US president Joe Biden has caused a stir online after social media users spotted something odd. Johnson was the first European leader to speak with the new US president over the weekend. The pair discussed strengthening the transatlantic relationship, the critical role of NATO, and joked about […]

A Twitter crackdown on supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory has seen Nigel Farage lose almost 50,000 followers. Analysis of data by social media analytics website Social Blade shows that the Reform UK leader lost 49,000 followers in a single week after Twitter suspended 70,000 QAnon accounts following the US Capitol riots, Left Foot Forward has revealed. […]

Social media won’t the same again without Donald Trump, says LIZ GERARD. But the issues he raised online have not gone away. We’ll miss him now he’s gone. Not from the White House, but from Twitter. Mad, bad and dangerous, maybe. But @realdonaldtrump brought us smiles as well as sighs. Who could forget “Covfefe” or […]

With Donald Trump having officially vacated the White House, Twitter users wasted no time in bidding him their version of a farewell. Trump left 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue around 1pm GMT and made a final address at Joint Base Andrews airbase before leaving for his Florida home in Air Force One. The outgoing US president told supporters […]

Roger Daltrey has been accused of being a hypocrite after signing a letter calling on No 10 to help British bands tour EU countries after having previously dismissed concerns about the impact of Brexit on the UK’s music industry.  Daltrey, the lead singer of the rock band the Who, famously downplayed the effect of Brexit on bands touring Europe, once […]

A right-wing commentator has been accused of using unconventional polling methods to whip up support to end lockdown. Martin Daubney, a former Brexit Party MEP turned right-wing commentator, claimed some 80% of respondents of a Twitter poll he ran among his followers would vote in favour of ending lockdown if a referendum were called today. In a […]

A Brexiteer MP has been criticised after suggesting Downing Street should break the Northern Ireland Protocol agreed to by Boris Johnson. Tory backbencher John Redwood was told to retire by a Twitter user after using the social media platform to call for the dumping of the Northern Ireland Protocol. “The government needs to give urgent attention to […]

A Labour MP has claimed Afghanistan was quicker and more effective at implementing restrictions at its borders to contain the coronavirus than Britain. Siobhain McDonagh said No 10’s border policy during the pandemic had been “a mess”. Panellists on BBC 2’s Politics Live were discussing a ban on flights to and from Brazil in light of a new variant originating […]

Miriam Margolyes’ blunt assessment of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson has won her a heap of praise online. The British actor said the US president was an “a*****e” and the British prime minister a “clown”. Asked for her reaction to recent events in the US during an appearance on Good Morning Britain, Margolyes said: “Like anybody […]

A right-wing commentator has been heavily criticised after agreeing with Nigel Farage’s claim that the UK was turning into the surveillance state that was East Germany. Isabelle Oakeshott praised Farage for highlighting the “brutal authoritarianism” committed by Westminster in the form of national lockdowns prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. In a ten-minute clip posted on his Twitter account, […]

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has called on Twitter to act on Boris Johnson’s “lies” on Twitter – in the same way it acted on Donald Trump’s tweets. Rayner hit out the at the prime minister over his comments on free school meals. Turning to Twitter, the prime minister claimed the government “will do everything […]

Tory MP Pauline Latham has downplayed pictures showing meagre free school meals by saying there were only ever intended ‘for lunch’. Appearing on Channel 4 News, the Derbyshire MP said she was appalled by the sight of some portions but sought to dismiss concerns children were not given enough food. “The schools decide whether they want […]

A Tory backbencher has said MPs should be vaccinated against the coronavirus before the rest of the public, arguing parliamentarians needed to “get our democracy back”. Steve Brine, who voted against the second national lockdown in November, said parliamentary staff should be included on the list because Westminster “is a shadow, at best, of itself”. Speaking […]