Jess Phillips calls X a ‘place of misery’ as she vows to scale back use

A government minister said she has scaled back her use of social media platform X, arguing it had become “a bit despotic” and was “a place of misery now”.

Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said although she had previously been “massively addicted to Twitter”, referencing the former name of X, she had removed the app from her phone after Elon Musk took over the company in October 2022.

She spoke out in the wake of a rift between Keir Starmer and Musk with the social media tycoon calling the prime minister “two-tier Keir” as he posted a series of images, videos and memes related to the recent rioting in the UK and suggested not all communities are “protected in Britain”.

He also branded the Labour leader a “hypocrite” over his approach to policing, a row which was ignited after the prime minister criticised social media companies for allowing the spread of misinformation that the Southport stabbings suspect was an asylum seeker which culminated in the far-right led disorder.

Related: Elon Musk’s journey from humanitarian to poster of rightwing memes

Downing Street previously criticised Musk for tweeting that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, with Starmer’s official spokesperson insisting there was “no justification for comments like that”.

Speaking at the Edinburgh festival fringe on Saturday, Phillips said of the social media platform: “Fundamentally for me now I think that I am sort of done with it, I don’t wish to fish in that particular pond any more.”

She told the audience: “I used to be massively addicted to Twitter, I have got a very addictive personality, I was massively addicted to it.”

The Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley added: “The only power we now have over what is becoming a bit despotic is that we opt out of it, you vote with your feet in this instance rather than pen and paper.”

Asked by host Matthew Stadlen if she would encourage people to quit the site, she said that would be “too dramatic”.

But Phillips said: “Personally for me, I don’t think it is a space where there is any fun to be had any more. I don’t think that it is a place of light, I think it is only a place of misery now.”

She added that she did not want to “strop off” and leave the site, but said: “I’m just not going to use it very much.”

Speaking about Musk, Phillips told the audience: “As soon as he took it over I took the app off my phone, so I have to log in to Twitter. So already there is a barrier.”

The comments follow Phillips sharing her concerns about the impact of social media companies more generally.

The Labour MP said while Musk had “every right” to express his views on British politics as a private citizen, “as a commercial citizen, who literally can control the way we see different things, you are getting into a more dangerous area”.