No, Keir Starmer isn’t going to “ban twitter”.

We’re only ten days into 2026, and we’ve already got a war, a revolution and now an incipient social media ban. Allegedly.

Apparently, X’s GrokAI is editing photos to put people in bikinis on request, and this is terrible. Something must be done.

I’m not going to get into the details, or bother quibbling over what is (or is not) pornographic material or sexual assault, whether bikinis are inherently sexual or whether AI generated fake images really count as “undressing”…because none of that is really the issue.

For our purposes, this is just [Issue X].

[Issue X] could be women in bikinis, but it could just as easily be burning Korans, death threats, climate denialism, “anti-vaccine misinformation” or swastikas.

Indeed, it has been any and all of those things in the past, and likely will be again.

It’s not the form of supposedly abhorrent content that should be discussed, but the functions by which our rulers would see it suppressed.

And one solution proposed by Sir Keir Starmer is to ban twitter. Which is upsetting a lot of people.

Too many people, considering it’s almost certainly not going to happen.

Firstly, Keir Starmer isn’t empowered to, or capable of, making his own policy decisions. No more than Ronald McDonald sets the price of McNuggets. So there’s no point in talking about what he wants.

Second, why on Earth would they go to all the trouble of creating this billion-dollar fake free speech platform and then stop people from using it?

No, what’s going to happen is a compromise that drags us further into the age of digital ID for all.

X/Twitter has already made a change that limits the use of GrokAI image generation to paid accounts. Paid accounts, naturally, have to be verified with bank details and identity documents.

It’s only the smallest change to simply enact a new “compromise measure” that will require ALL accounts to verify in one way or another. That could be an X measure, and/or new legislation in the UK.

Rather tellingly, this was being suggested as a “solution” within hours of the story first breaking:

Why don’t we make it so only ID or passport verified profiles can use Grok? all of the media you make it generate goes on an unremovable public tab on your profile. This tab can be used against you in court e.g when applying for custody of your kids, and your employer can see it.…

— Sweet Anita (@sweetanita) January 2, 2026

And just like that, X/Twitter users will be subject to the same ID requirements that already exist (or will soon) in Ireland, Australia, Norway, Denmark, France, Malaysia and Spain, for a totally different reason. One that did not exist a week ago.

That’s some efficient psy-op work.

…all that said, don’t be surprised if there’s a little taster ban. An experimental downing for a day or two where sociologists study people’s reactions, and then “common sense prevails” after the compromise is announced.

This will make Starmer look tough, Elon look reasonable, and everyone happy.

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