It’s “possible” the government should come off X, Ed Miliband has said, because Elon Musk is a “dangerous man”.
The energy minister said Musk was part of a “global network of the far right” that includes Nigel Farage.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Labour conference, Miliband said: “It’s not just that [Nigel] Farage wants less workers’ rights and all those things. Even though he poses as something else, he is now part of a global network of the far right, a global network of billionaires like Elon Musk who want to take away people’s rights, take away people’s freedoms, and we need to have that argument.”
Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022 and renamed it X, has been criticised for failing to crack down on misinformation on the platform and even sharing fake news himself.
He recently appeared via video link at a far-right rally in London organised by the convicted criminal Tommy Robinson and called for a “change of government”, adding: “Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die, that’s the truth, I think.”
Miliband said of Musk: “He called for the overthrow of our government. He incited violence on our streets. His platform, X, promotes disinformation. He’s a dangerous person.”
Asked if that meant the government should leave X, he said: “It’s possible.”
Last year, after riots spread in his area, the Labour mayor of the Liverpool city region, Steve Rotheram, said people should consider leaving the platform. “The time is approaching where we’ve got to all examine whether we should, en masse, withdraw from it and for there to be a different platform,” he said.
Labour MPs have also begun quitting X.
When asked whether he was disheartened by the rise of Reform and the proliferation of climate denial, Miliband said: “I lost the election in 2015 right? I could have gone away.
“But the point of politics is about ideals. The point of politics is to go out and argue your case, and you let the chips fall where they may, and maybe you win, and maybe you don’t … The point of it all is you believe in things, you go out and argue for things. You win the argument.”
He said Reform was sticking up for “the frackers who want to frack our country” and that the opposition to net zero had come from “massive economic interests”.
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Keir Starmer and his cabinet have been asked to be more strident about the need for climate action and renewable energy or risk ceding ground to Reform.
Speaking on a fringe panel, the chair of the Commons energy committee, Bill Esterson, said: “I just want to start by talking about the climate threat, because it’s increasingly struck me that we talk about the clean power agenda, we talk about what we’re doing in energy, but we don’t talk as much as we used to [about the climate threat].
“I feel that’s perhaps why those who are peddling misinformation and returning to outright climate denial are having traction.”
On Andy Burnham, and his alleged leadership ambitions, Miliband said he was “very talented” but “I am Keir’s guy. If you are asking a leadership question, I am Keir’s guy.”
About running again himself, Miliband said: “I don’t know how many times I can say: ‘No, I definitely will not.’”
