Government websites funnel tens of thousands to X – even as it warns of harm

New FOI data reveals gov.uk websites are directing huge numbers of UK citizens to X each year, raising fresh questions about the government’s stance on online safety.

In June 2025 alone, gov.uk pages sent 5,642 users directly to X. Pic: Unsplash

UK government websites are still actively sending tens of thousands of users a year to X – the platform at the centre of mounting concerns over abuse, disinformation and AI-generated sexualised imagery – according to FOI data shared exclusively with The Lead.

Between January 2025 and January 2026, official gov.uk domains generated at least 34,000 click-throughs to X (formerly Twitter), with monthly traffic ranging from 716 to a peak of 5,642. Citizens are being steered towards active government accounts, including ‘@10DowningStreet’.

The figures, obtained through Freedom of Information requests by the legal campaign group Foxglove, shed new light on the scale of government-directed traffic to X.

Politically, these numbers are anything but neutral. Every one of those clicks represents a state-sanctioned pipeline to a platform ministers themselves have repeatedly condemned – and which regulators are actively scrutinising.

The data, released by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, is also explicitly incomplete. It covers only the central gov.uk domain, with the department acknowledging that other government sites – including service-specific domains across Whitehall – hold their own separate analytics. There is no centralised picture of total traffic. In other words: 34,000 is a floor, not a ceiling.

Even that floor is significant. In June 2025 alone, gov.uk pages sent 5,642 users directly to X. Across the year, referrals rarely dropped below 1,000 a month, suggesting a steady, structural relationship between government communications and Elon Musk’s platform.

Victoria Collins MP, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson for the Lib Dems tells The Lead that while we cannot “simply surrender the platform to Musk and his cronies”, the government must take stronger action:

“Elon Musk has made clear his utter disregard for online safety on X. That is why Liberal Democrats have repeatedly pushed for tougher action on the platform.

“We understand there is a need to communicate on X, we cannot simply surrender the platform to Musk and his cronies. But, these figures clearly show the Government is acting as a funnel for a platform that time and again flouts our most basic safety expectations.”

It is not unusual for departments, agencies and ministerial offices to routinely embed “follow us” links on official pages, directing users to their X accounts alongside other social platforms, but as we covered earlier this year, X is no longer just a social network hosting polarised debate. It is an environment where abuse is structurally rewarded, misogyny and racism are algorithmically amplified, misinformation spreads unchecked, and where AI tools like Musk’s Grok have been used to generate sexualised images of real women and girls at scale. Musk routinely amplifies dangerous, racist conspiracy theories and has publicly called for British citizens to overthrow the government. And yet, the UK Government continues to embed itself within that ecosystem.

Donald Campbell, Director of Advocacy for Foxglove, an independent non-profit organisation that works to stand up to Big Tech, tells The Lead: “The Prime Minister has said that X needs to ‘get a grip’ on its AI tool, Grok, over its creation of ‘disgraceful’ and ‘disgusting’ images of abuse.

“Yet, at the same time, his own Government’s websites are sending thousands of users to the X platform where these images were being shared.

“It’s alarming that the Government is actively directing users to this site, even while a live investigation is still underway by Ofcom. How can ministers justify this?”

Earlier this year, the Prime Minister described content circulating on X as “unlawful” and “disgusting”. Ofcom has since opened investigations into online safety compliance across major platforms including X, and ministers have repeatedly signalled concern about harmful content, misinformation and the erosion of online safeguards. Labour MP Charlotte Nichols described the Grok-generated images as “weapons of abuse”, while Helen Hayes, Education Committee chair said: “We cannot overstate the societal harm caused by the sexualisation and exploitation of women and children online.”

But the FOI data exposes an important gap between rhetoric and infrastructure, and at the same time as warning about the harms of platforms like X, the state continues to route users directly into them.

A Government spokesperson told The Lead: “Today’s media landscape is unrecognisable compared to even a decade ago. The government has a duty to engage with the public where they are, and we continuously review our communications channels to ensure all citizens can access important information.”

Government websites are among the most trusted digital spaces in the country. When they link out to external platforms, they confer legitimacy and embed those platforms into the architecture of public communication. In the case of X, that means actively sustaining a channel into a system that regulators are struggling to contain.

There is also the deeper issue of fragmentation. No single department appears to hold a full picture of how much traffic the government as a whole sends to X. Analytics are scattered across domains, teams and agencies, meaning the state itself lacks visibility over its own digital footprint.

This is the blind spot at the heart of the current debate. While policymakers debate online harms, AI safety and the regulation of major platforms, the government’s own communications infrastructure is reinforcing those platforms’ centrality. The focus remains overwhelmingly on user behaviour, while far less attention is paid to the older, institutional actors who sustain and legitimise the platforms where that behaviour is shaped.

As we aim to show time and time again at The Lead, the most consequential radicalising forces in Britain are not only found in fringe communities, but in the systems of power that quietly amplify them. X is one of those systems. And the FOI data makes it clear that whatever ministers say about it, they are still feeding it.■

About the author: Zoë Grünewald is Westminster Editor at The Lead and a freelance political journalist and broadcaster.

The Lead is on the frontline of the ongoing debate around online safety – where policy failures translate into real-world harm for the most vulnerable. Back in January, we made the case to leave X as abuse material spread unchecked. We’ve pressed for meaningful age restrictions on social media, and this week’s announcement is a step forward. The test now is enforcement – whether legislators act with resolve, and whether tech companies are finally compelled to answer for the damage they enable.

If you want journalism that challenges the insidious creep of power in Silicon Valley – and exposes the systems that allow it – support us. Become a paid subscriber of The Lead today and claim 30% off for the first year.

👏Congratulations to The Lead contributor Adam Bychawski who has been longlisted for the prestigious Paul Foot Award for his vital reporting on how the UK fails victims of miscarriages of justice. His investigation for The Lead in March last year uncovered the plight of Ahmed Adan, wrongly imprisoned for 13 years, and the government’s failure to compensate people like him. You can read his report here. From the longlist of 12, a shortlist of six will be selected next month. The winner of the annual prize, worth £8,000, will be announced on 1 June. Best of luck Adam!

🗳️Ahead of the upcoming local elections, Zoë will be diving into what to expect in England’s council elections along with Wales and Scotland’s Parliamentary elections in a special report published on Saturday 2 May and across our Lead Local network we’ll be covering what’s to come and all the fall-out with a focus on the Valleys of South Wales, Calderdale Council elections, the battle for Sefton and Lancashire district council elections. We’ve also been out on the streets speaking to voters – so keep an eye on our TikTok and Instagram to see what people had to say ahead of the 7 May polls.