The Liberal Democrats have urged Reform UK MPs who receive payments from X to donate that money to charities working to combat sexual exploitation, following a wave of AI-generated sexualised images of women and children produced by X’s inbuilt tool, Grok. According to The Guardian, the party’s spokesperson for science, innovation and technology, Victoria Collins, said Nigel Farage and other MPs paid by the Elon Musk-owned site were receiving “tainted money”.[1]
The controversy intensified after X limited the image-creation function to paying subscribers, a move Downing Street described as effectively turning “the ability to creation of unlawful images into a premium service”, according to The Guardian. Several MPs have called for the government to stop posting on X while Grok continues to generate large numbers of sexualised images in response to user prompts.[1]
The Guardian’s reporting on MPs’ registers shows sums paid by X to prominent Reform figures: Farage was paid just over £9,000 by X in 2025, while Lee Anderson and Richard Tice were each paid about £3,500. Former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, now sitting as an independent, received more than £40,000 from the site last year and has been identified in other reporting as one of the platform’s most prolific and highly remunerated users. Industry and local reporting has highlighted how viral posts on the platform can generate substantial earnings for a small number of politicians. [1][4][5]
Collins told reporters: “The spread of these AI-generated sexual abuse images is a disgusting violation of the rights of women and children. It is astounding that X software is complicit in the generation of sexual abuse imagery and they won’t do the slightest thing to stop it.” She added that “Reform are making thousands of pounds from stoking division on their X accounts. This is tainted money earned from a platform that refuses to tackle sexual abuse.” The Liberal Democrats said those payments should be donated to sexual abuse charities working with victims. [1]
Asked at a press conference whether he was happy to continue taking money from X, Nigel Farage answered that posting “costs me several times [what I am paid] in salaries and staff” who work on his social media, while also condemning the images and urging “that the government pushes very hard to put pressure on X to remove that facility”, The Guardian reported. Reform UK was contacted for further comment. [1]
The dispute comes amid wider scrutiny of MPs’ outside earnings and the role of social platforms in amplifying polarising content. Analysis published last year showed Reform MPs were disproportionately boosted on X, generating a high share of engagement despite a small parliamentary presence, and reporting has flagged significant sums earned by some politicians from media contracts and platform payments. Separately, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority proposed a 2.8% pay rise for MPs to take annual pay to around £93,904, a background context to debates over MPs’ remuneration and outside income. The government has previously signalled it is considering tighter rules on MPs’ second incomes from media firms. [5][4][6][3][7]
📌 Reference Map:
##Reference Map:
- [1] (The Guardian) - Paragraph 1, Paragraph 2, Paragraph 3, Paragraph 4, Paragraph 5, Paragraph 6
- [4] (The London Economic) - Paragraph 3, Paragraph 6
- [5] (Byline Times) - Paragraph 3, Paragraph 6
- [6] (The Independent) - Paragraph 6
- [3] (Evening Standard) - Paragraph 6
- [7] (The Guardian, Jan 12, 2025) - Paragraph 6
Source: Noah Wire Services