‘Social media is harming children’ - Immediate news release from Defend Campaign 

Immediate release: 25/03/26

‘Social media is exposing children to unsuitable material which is in itself a form of child abuse’

Two week’s after the launch of the people-led Defend Campaign for Free Speech, the Defend Campaign has issued a warning that young people face a form of child abuse by unregulated, accidental, deliberate or unknown exposure to grossly hateful posts being detected predominantly on X.

It follows continued publication by Elon Musk's platform, formerly known as Twitter of ugly, harmful and racist material which was itself labelled inappropriate almost instantly during tests looking at reposting the same material on Meta's platform Threads.

The most recent case-studies isolated by Defend included the distasteful cartoon depiction of a Muslim man in an aroused state next to a younger person with the headline "All Muslims are perverts" which was first posted on X  on 10th March and captured by the  Defend campaign in routine searches seven days later, having been viewed by more than 5000 times. There was also an uqualified  depiction of non-white men wearing non traditional British clothing in the background of a slogan accusing the British Labour Party of a child rape cover up.

This sort of posting is likely to have been banned if it had been an advert in the realms of more conventional media supervised by the Advertising Standards Authority set up to promote fairness and to protect consumers.

One long-term abuser  of famous names and other high-profile platform users  who had his X profile live since October 2023  was @keanerthanever1. It has multiple examples of foul language and nasty sentiments that remained published with little restriction. It has only just been removed a little earlier this month, though some of  his insults remain visible on various search engines as of today. He only finally got removed suddenly after the 82 year old veteran broadcaster John Simpson was called the 'C word' and told by this user of hate speech not to worry about it because ‘he’ll be dead soon’ because of his age (posted March 14th). Similar hate was levelled at other commentators and some has been recorded by defend before it's final disappearance, but it took until this insult for the profile to be closed down. Others had to endure the same hate despite requests to remove it.

“Is this really what parents want kids to learn from and be exposed to?” asked Director and Founder of Defend, Jason Tanner. He continued: “ I would not want any child whether a niece, nephew or school child to be reading this; at least without some sort of adult guidance. If not we might as well take the lock off the doors in our houses and let kids out late at night and into strip joints, gambling, drug dens or worse. This is not free speech, as portrayed by the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, but it is hate speech masquerading as free speech. What makes things worse is that these damaging posts are often monetized making abuse a profitable pastime.

“The reality is that social media has had 20 years or so to show it was capable of self-regulation. I suspect it was inevitable that parents and politicians were some of the last to catch-up with the technology, opportunities and threats, but the dangers are now very real and still continuing to threaten children and others out there. But making profit from such posts for both the platform and the poster is obscene and the owners, who in the traditional sense are publishers,  need to be taken aside  to answer some serious questions and take urgent action.

Defend was set up urgently in March due to a very real threat to Free Speech which has become corrupted and hijacked by entities such as Elon Musk’s X. Even well known and respected Human Rights organisations such as Amnesty International make it clear that Free Speech has limits - especially if it transforms into hate speech against others.

This comes with the late but still welcome introduction of voluntary trials to limit access to social media in selected families throughout the UK, but these do not currently limit the offensive and abusive material still out there and doing untold damage to the most vulnerable, including children who can have access to an X account from the age of 13.

Defend recognises that X provides information on platform safety, but remains concerned that the second sentence of its guidance seems to put responsibility for protection back on to the very child who may be abused. This sentence state: “The X Rules enable minors to participate in the public conversation freely and safely, and minors should rely on the X Rules (and report to X) in order to protect themselves.” Defend thinks this is far from adequate. X Safety guidance here: https://help.x.com/en/rules-and-policies/uk-information-for-parents-and-minor-users#:~:text=X%2C%20as%20a%20service%2C%20is,by%20virtue%20of%20their%20age.

Worryingly, at the same time, the platform promotes itself as a number one source for news and posts are noted to claim that Elon Musk is up for a Nobel Prize specifically for his contribution to free speech. This gives a dangerous impression that X has become the owner and guardian of free speech by effectively hijacking an unprotected  historic concept from the people it belongs to. “Defend is worried that large numbers of people have unwittingly sided with Elon’s illusion that they have access to free speech against a world that has been portrayed to be against them, but this is a masterpiece in population manipulation.”

Jason continues: “No one can be sure of a balanced or rounded discussion or debate due to severe algorithmic manipulation that keeps quieter, less sensational criticism from coming out of the box simply in some cases, because it’s not using the same level of abusive language.”

Defend decided to ask a different AI publisher of news for an explanation of the seeming prominence of the type of despicable imagery and language that would not be tolerated in schools, let alone the workplace in the UK. AI is a prominent publisher of news in itself and a former executive of Google, Matt Brittin is tipped to become the new Director General of the BBC.

Google AI gave Defend the following analysis on the rise of the type of abusive behaviour that could well abuse , steer, corrupt or lead the developing mind of children:

“Fake news, misinformation, and disinformation have become prominent issues on X

(formerly Twitter) under Elon Musk's ownership, with studies indicating it has the highest

concentration of disinformation among major social platforms. The platform has seen a

surge in Al-generated, synthetic media and unverified claims, often accelerated by

monetized accounts…

“….Monetization Incentives: X's revenue-sharing program incentivizes users to post

sensational or inflammatory content to generate high views, which often leads to the

spread of misinformation, including false claims about election fraud and war.

“ Verified Accounts (Blue Checks): The shift from verified expertise to a paid

subscription model has legitimized many accounts that spread misinformation, with

studies showing paid accounts frequently sharing misinformation or "racist conspiracy

theories….Misinformation is often rewarded by algorithms, making it a sustainable business model for some users.”

Defend asked X’s (Twitter’s) AI, known as Grok to give an analysis of the @keanerthanever1 profile before the account finally fell silent, with the ‘near to death’ hate-speech levelled at John Simpson. Grok said:

“@keanerthanever1 runs an account centered on UK political scrutiny, routinely sharing screenshots to spotlight perceived hypocrisies and deceits by figures like Narinder Kaur and left-leaning commentators. The user frequently tags Grok for fact-checking on post origins, underscoring a commitment to unmasking online fabrications. Engagements reveal a network of like-minded critics of mainstream narratives, blending sharp wit with unapologetic vernacular in debates over bias and accountability.

"Backwards racist low iq cXnt @LillzTIL" -@keanerthanever1”

Jason continues: “The final sentence was an example of what Grok described as unapologetic vernacular, the sort levied at John Simpson who I suspect is of such journalistic repute, that it finally caused X to act on years of hate speech from this one single profile, but there are plenty more on there to be easily found by a tech savvy 13 year old, keen to explore the world.”

Defend has extended an open invitation to X to engage ever since it published research into the calculated control of ‘bots’ that are  very evident on X on November 6th last year.

Further press information and on-request access to the offensive case studies: Jason Tanner, Defend UK campaign for free speech 07941 433598  jason@jasontanner.uk or hello@defenduk.uk   www.defenduk.uk/defend

Notes for Editors

Jason Tanner is the founder of the  defend uk campaign and a news commentator when time allows. He was the last Chief Press Officer for the National Trust before a major reorganisation saw it move its London HQ to Swindon . Amongst many projects,  Jason revealed to the world's media  the Trust's acquisition of a rare survival of 'slum housing'  in Birmingham and was part of the team that worked with Sir Anthony Hopkins in a race to save Snowdon for the nation some 20 plus years ago. When the Trust relocated, 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 pioneering 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 government of the time launched its ill-fated Big Society. He started the first 5 years of his career working as a radio journalist for both BBC Southern Counties and as the Senior Broadcast Journalist at Mercury FM & Mercury Extra.