Urgent review of use of X following question from Deddington councillor
23/12/2025
Gareth Epps feels X is “a major driver of disinformation and division in the UK”
by Esme Kenney: Local Democracy Reporter
The leader of Oxfordshire County Council has asked for an “urgent review” into whether the authority should continue to use X over Elon Musk’s use of the platform.
The county council has 46,840 followers on the platform, as well as 6,064 on OxonTravel, where the council posts updates on traffic, road closures and flooding.
Elon Musk, who owns Tesla, bought Twitter in 2022 and changed its name to X.
Liberal Democrat councillor Gareth Epps said the social media site had “entrenched its position as a major driver of disinformation and division in the UK” since it was bought by Musk, in a written question to the county council leader.
He added: “Posts on this channel are no longer visible without an X account, making this less effective as a way to communicate with the general public.
“With that in mind, is it really still appropriate for critical council updates such as road closures during the recent Storm Claudia to be communicated primarily via X?”
In her response, Liberal Democrat council leader Liz Leffmam said she shared the concerns, but that residents access information through “a wide range of communications channels”.
She added: “For critical council updates, such as flooding information and road closures, we don’t rely on a single channel but use a range of channels to ensure the latest information reaches people as quickly as possible.
“Our use of social media is under constant review, and we are proactively exploring and trialling other channels such as BlueSky and WhatsApp.
“However, these do take time to grow and our follower numbers on them are still low.
“We are therefore currently using them alongside, rather than instead of, X.”
But she added that due to Elon Musk’s use of the platform, she would ask the communications team “to review urgently the suitability of X as a platform for our communications”.
Conservative councillor Liam Walker said the council leader had the “wrong priorities”.
He added: “While residents are dealing with potholes, a congestion charge, and unsafe roads, the leadership seems more concerned about Elon Musk and social media point-scoring.
“X accounts like OxonTravel play a vital role in alerting people to real, day-to-day issues often on roads like the A34.
“Perhaps the leader’s time would be better spent getting potholes fixed and pushing for long-overdue upgrades to roads like the A40 and A34 rather than getting so worked up about who owns a social media platform.”
A spokesperson from Oxfordshire County Council said: “The communications team regularly review the range of social media channels used by the council to communicate important information and advice to residents and businesses.
“We also introduce and test new channels.
“Each social media channel plays a different role in reaching our audiences and so recommendations on the continued use of X will be made in due course and with that in mind.”
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
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