Defend uk Campaign for free speech backs Starmer's concerns about Musk interference June 4th 2026 /update July 21 2026

Defend uk Campaign backs Starmer for  recognising  substantial threat by Musk to national democracy and security

Update:
First released Thursday 4th June 2026 Time: 20:15 hrs GMT   - Reasserted on Tuesday 20 July 2026  with Arrival of Andy Burnham on first full day in office as New PM .  The Defend Campaign will start to release some of the research it has undertaken about the  threat within the next few days. Please register if you'd like  to be  on the list for this information  jason@jasontanner.uk (on behalf of the Defend UK Campaign)

Statement from Defend

The Defend uk Campaign is backing Prime Minister Starmer's concerns about Elon Musk's posts on the platform X which the billionaire owns and controls.

Founding-Director of the Defend uk Campaign, Jason Tanner said: "Elon Musk appears to show little empathy for the family of Henry Nowak or respect for their wishes after his recent and tragic death in Southampton.

He continues: 

"The evidence of illogical, odd and unwarranted interference in UK democratic processes hosted on the X platform has been clear for quite some time. Defend uk and others have been tracking frankly dreadful hate speech spilling liberally and relatively unchallenged from the platform at times. Defend is not party political but the seemingly coordinated venom against Starmer and Labour has  been appalling in recent months by most standard notions of decency.

"Defend uk research has uncovered patterns of seemingly systematic template-abuse not only being levelled at UK democracy but countries such as Ireland, France, Australia, other countries including  the EU in general.

Defend  through associated research profiles has been sending Tweets direct to the PM's X profile while flagging up UK secret services to ensure they were aware, though it would be surprised if they were not as the trail of evidence is quite stark.

"Defend itself came about after investigations were triggered in response to Musk's high profile and disproportionate comments as if from an an expert, on child grooming gangs in Britain last year, yet without any specific qualification to do so other than his fame and seeming free access to free speech via the  powerful platform X he acquired.

In addition, Jason adds:

" Defend urges people to consider Elon's working relationship with Donald Trump. Musk oversaw lotteries to try and lure favourable voting in marginal states in the  U.S elections in 2024. Such actions are rarely endorsed in mainstream democracies. Defend also urges global consideration of the wisdom of allowing undue  influence from a majority share ownership over significant communications platforms such as Starlink."

" Elsewhere, France is  pursuing investigations against potential election interference and President Macron has spoken out against some of the claims made by social media in a warped definition of free speech (Tap to access)  that justifies hate speech. Organisations such as Amnesty and Defend recognise that there are in fact lines agreed within societies that should not be crossed and sometimes require our politicians to draft laws of protection when boundaries of hate speech threatening democratic processes get pushed too far.  That is why society endorses the rule of law.

"We are also concerned that  concepts of truth   and free speech are being badly  damaged by broad claims  apparently endorsed by Musk on his platform suggesting that X is either the number one source of news or should be considered as 'the only source of news'. This is totally illogical  if healthy modern democracies are defined as having access to many sources of free speech that it assumes Elon would want if relatively un-regulated hateful speech is allowed on X?"

Notes for editors

Further press information: Jason Tanner, Defend UK campaign for free speech 07941 433598  jason@jasontanner.uk or hello@defendUK.uk   www.defendUK.uk

Notes for Editors
1) Jason Tanner is the founder of the  defend uk campaign and an independent news & royal commentator when time allows. After several years overseeing national and international media relations for the National Trust, Jason headed up media relations for Dame Elisabeth Hoodless at CSV (now Volunteering Matters) and worked closely with key national journalists on a project that placed ground-breaking community volunteers within the families of children at risk. He also headed a talented team that put volunteers squarely on the map as CSV took the lead on the Year of the Volunteer, 2005 leading to the climactic efforts of the Olympic Volunteers of 2012. He also dealt with the enormous international media attention generated when the coalition government of the time launched its ill-fated Big Society. He started the first 5 years of his career working as a regional radio journalist for BBC Southern Counties and as the Senior Broadcast Journalist at Mercury FM & Mercury Extra, now subsumed by Global.

2) Defend published a research interview on  November  6th last year that saw X's own AI platform, Grok,  affirm that the tech already exists to readily fight bots but that X uses   such protection selectively. Its damning analysis also confirmed in Grok's own statement that it also sees “every public post, reply, and trend to stay current. That means the system can detect bot patterns: repetitive phrasing, engagement spikes, account age vs. activity, IP clustering, etc.” and can therefore take action against abuse, Defend suggests.

3) Defend has a longstanding invitation for Musk to respond to Defend's statements but has yet to hear anything as he is welcome to put his view forward which Defend will publish proportionately and without algorithm involvement.