Starmer accuses Musk of trying to ‘whip up division’ in UK over Henry Nowak murder

PM says Britons are ‘reasonable, tolerant people’ and backs MP’s legal action against Grok firm over fake sexualised images

Elon Musk is “interfering in our politics” and attempting to create division, Keir Starmer has said in a significant toughening of government language about the X owner.

It follows weeks of posts by Musk on his social media platform about the murder of Henry Nowak , many of which have used far-right themes and talking points.

Speaking in Yorkshire, where he was due to meet mayors from English regions, Starmer said Britain needed to “assert who we are” as “reasonable, tolerant people”.

He also praised the Labour MP Jess Asato, who is taking legal action against Musk’s XAI company after saying its Grok tool helped a user produce fake sexualised pictures of her, part of a wave of such images that flooded X earlier this year.

“Jess Asato is absolutely right in the action she is taking. Disgusting images were created, in her particular case by Grok,” said Starmer, who has warned Musk’s company that it would face drastic regulatory action if it did not stop the flow of sexualised images, some of which featured children.

Starmer said: “I am really pleased that we took Grok on a few months ago, because that is the fight we should be in, taking on some of these platforms providers [and] some of these disgusting images, really disgusting. We won that.

“But Jess is right, she is a parliamentarian. I am 100% behind the action that she has taken.