Trump Official Accuses UK Of Parroting Russia With X Ban

A Donald Trump official has accused the British government of considering a “Russia-style” ban on the social media platform X.

UK ministers say “all options are on the table” when it comes to punishing the website formerly known as Twitter after its AI bot Grok was allowed to generate unsolicited, sexualised images of women and children.

Regulator Ofcom launched an investigation into the platform under the Online Safety Act on Monday.

So far, X has responded to the outrage by making the image-generation tool only available to paying subscribers – a move which exacerbated the general fury in the UK.

The platform’s CEO, former Trump adviser Elon Musk, has a long history of picking fights with this Labour government – and it seems he also has the backing of the White House.

Trump’s under secretary for public diplomacy, Sarah B Rogers, lambasted Britain’s approach on X and downplayed the backlash around the AI images.

In a series of posts over the weekend, Rogers suggested the row was the perfect example of the US’s previous concerns that European leaders are introducing “civilisational erasure”.

The official then shared a clip of Keir Starmer refusing to back on a ban on first-cousin marriage from last year.

She said: “Since we know the British government wants to make sure women are safe both online and offline (thus contemplating a Russia-style X ban, to protect them from bikini images), here’s more from Wikipedia on cousin marriage – and its connection to honor killing.”

The official then posted screenshots from the Wikipedia page about cousin marriage in the Middle East.

Rogers added: “A sardonic reader might wonder whether OfCom’s response to such affronts would be, ‘ban Wikipedia.’ You don’t need to wonder! All wikis face an uncertain future in Britain, if they allow anonymous editing.”

She added a link to an article from the BBC – a broadcaster Trump is trying to sue – which explained how Wikipedia lost a legal challenge to new Online Safety Act rules last August.

This is far from the first time Rogers has attacked Labour.

In a separate post, Rogers shared a screenshot from an Express.co.uk article which reads: “Labour council leader called rape gang victims ‘white trash.’”

In an attempted “gotcha” moment, she pointed out how Labour has promised to “ensure women & girls are safe online as to ensure they are safe in the real world”.

Rogers has previously claimed digital laws in the UK and EU are a “grotesque betrayal of everything we stand for” in the States.

She also mocked the prime minister and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney over Christmas.

After the US banned two Britons from the US – one of whom was linked to McSweeney – she shared a post on X which read, “Hey McSweeney. Merry Christmas”, and featured an edited photo of Rogers with a Christmas hat on.