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IF YOU’RE CONFUSED by the political response to the latest scandal with Elon Musk’s X, don’t worry, you aren’t alone.
X has not been a stranger to controversy since Musk took over and reformed it from Twitter in 2022, but after its AI-tool Grok began generating non-consensual sexual imagery at the request of users last month, many politicians saw it as a tipping point.
TDs of all political stripes in Leinster House are in agreement that this is wrong and should not happen, but they differ on how the State, and they as individual politicians, should respond to it.
In the main, this issue appears to have caught Ireland’s political parties off guard, with press offices scrambling over the last week to develop and articulate their parties’ positions.
Messages changed and adapted as the week went on, and requests for comment that were initially ignored were replied to as parties began to get a handle on things.
The response from each of Ireland’s main political parties has varied.
Some individual politicians, like Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan and Minister of State for AI Niamh Smyth, have deactivated their accounts in outrage over the scandal.
A number of political parties, namely Labour, the Social Democrats and the Green Party, have opted to keep their accounts but cease posting on the platform.
Others like Fine Gael and Sinn Féin have followed the example of their respective leaders, Simon Harris and Mary Lou McDonald, who have remained active on the site and argued that it is better to stay on the pitch than off it.
The words on the lips of most of the political press officers The Journal spoke to in relation to the issue this week were “it is being kept under review”.
Defending Fine Gael’s decision to continue to use the website, a spokesman for Fine Gael told The Journal that while the party “condemns the use of Grok, and other similar tools, to generate sexualised deepfake images”, Fine Gael will continue to use the website mainly because it is of use to communicate with journalists.
“Fine Gael uses a wide variety of platforms to communicate to different audiences.
“X is a platform that is particularly relevant in communicating to the media.
“We keep all communications channels under review to ensure they are effective in reaching those audiences,” the spokesman said.
This tallies with the public utterings of Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan, who, when asked this week by RTÉ’s David McCullagh if his Department still being on X gives the platform credibility, responded: “Well, sure RTÉ are on X… Presenters of RTÉ are on X”.
O’Donovan said he would not ask others to delete their X accounts because that is not his role as Minister.
Behind the scenes, there is a view held across the parties that continue to remain on X that it is still a valuable tool for reaching an audience.
They may be right. Despite high-profile civil organisations like Women’s Aid and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre ceasing to post on the platform, it is almost impossible to know with accuracy how many Irish users have departed the platform.
Another argument that party sources have privately made for remaining on X is that other social media platforms also have problems with illegal content. But this argument fails to recognise that other mainstream platforms are not responsible for the generation of child sexual abuse materials in the same way that X is via Grok.
Similar to Sinn Féin and Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil’s press office this week confirmed to The Journal that it also has no plans to leave X currently, again citing the line that its use is being “kept under review”.
A spokesperson for Independent Ireland said similar.
“Despite our condemnation of how some people use the platform, many use it responsibly and [as] a source of information. Therefore, we do not currently intend to delete our account. But the issue will be tabled for discussion at our National Conference,” they said.
Likewise, when asked by The Journal at what point his party would stop using X, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said:
“We will continue to use the X platform at the moment, but we will actually use the legislative tools that we have to actually make a difference, and not just virtue signal.”
Tóibín added that it is a necessary communication tool and that his party has been a “long critics of AI”.
“Whether or not one individual comes off X or not will make no difference to an individual’s child’s life, and we do use it as a communication tool. We will review it, and if there isn’t changes to it in the future, we may come to a different decision on this,” Tóibín said.
People Before Profit appears to have ceased posting on the site in December, but a spokesperson for the party said (you guessed it) that the situation is currently being reviewed.
“At the moment we are reviewing the position. We haven’t made a definitive decision. We are waiting to see what X does and will decide then,” they told The Journal.
It’s notable, however, that the party’s two TDs have still been posting on the platform.
When contacted, Richard Boyd Barrett said: “I did one post, I’m generally trying to avoid it. We’re trying to wait and see where things go…We want to get clarity on X’s response.”
He said his party is somewhat swayed by the arguments being put forward by Mary Lou McDonald and Simon Harris: “Is it better to fight it out on this terrain or completely abandon this terrain? That is a consideration.
“In an ideal world, I’d like a public not-for-profit social media app that everyone was on, but at the moment that is not the case.”
For Labour, the Social Democrats and the Green Party, all of whom have ceased posting on the app, it is notable that none of them have actually deleted their accounts.
Some party members have argued that it is necessary to remain on the site to stop others from impersonating them, and others have said they live in hope that it will one day be sold by Musk.
But as one insider from a rival party cynically put it:
“If I were a betting man (and I am), they’ll be back posting well in time for the next local or general elections. Whichever comes first.”
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