Social media tycoon in sights of MPs as they press for roles chairing key Commons committees

UK officials complain they faced resistance from Elon Musk’s X over calls to take down posts during the worst riots in England for more than a decade © Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Elon Musk will be asked by the UK parliament to give evidence about the operations of social media platform X under plans drawn up by a leading contender to become chair of a key panel of MPs.

Labour politician Dawn Butler, who is vying to lead the House of Commons science and technology select committee, told the Financial Times that the US-based billionaire owner of X was “someone we’d like to invite” as a witness.

“It is vital for the committee to formally examine the use of algorithms in pushing hateful material — and the moderation of such content — on X and other social media platforms,” Butler said.

Her rival for the position of chair, fellow Labour MP Chi Onwurah, also supports an inquiry into the use of algorithms by social media companies, including how they drive misinformation and profits.

Their focus on social media and misinformation comes as authorities globally grapple with Musk’s outsized influence, and the impact of discourse on his platform on politics in democracies.

Last month British officials complained they had faced resistance from X over calls to take down posts deemed a threat to national security during the worst riots in England for more than a decade.

Musk also taunted Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on X during the unrest and claimed that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Butler’s statement.

Dawn Butler, left, and Chi Onwurah © Getty Images/PA

Nominations for committee chairs in the Commons closed on Monday, with elections for contested positions scheduled for Wednesday. Where there are challengers, all MPs have a vote. There are 26 Commons select committees, which typically scrutinise ministers, civil servants and leading figures from the sectors relevant to their inquiries.

MPs cannot force witnesses to turn up, but can deem them to be “in contempt” of parliament if they snub a formal summons. The sanction is in practice only symbolic.

Media baron Rupert Murdoch and retail tycoon Sir Philip Green are among business figures who initially resisted appearing before select committees, before relenting. In 2011, MPs sent the Commons deputy serjeant at arms to deliver a summons to the headquarters of Murdoch’s UK newspapers.

The committee chair positions are highly prized roles in parliament, viewed as career launch pads for ambitious new MPs and prestigious posts for party grandees who have served their time on the front bench. Chairs receive a £18,309 top up to their basic MP salary of £91,346.

The proportion of chairs granted UK political parties are based on the results of the previous general election, though several, including leadership of the public accounts committee, are reserved for the official opposition, now the Conservatives.

After winning a seismic landslide in July, Labour has secured the majority of these roles — including on the Treasury, business, defence, education and energy committees, while the Tories have negotiated those covering culture, home affairs, and public administration and constitutional affairs.

The Lib Dems will lead select committees covering two of the policy areas they have campaigned most heavily on over the past year: health and social care, and environment, food and rural affairs.

Dame Meg Hillier, outgoing head of the public accounts committee and now in charge of monitoring the Treasury © PA

Dame Meg Hillier, Labour MP and chair of the Commons public accounts committee from 2015-2024, has been elected unopposed to the high-profile job of chairing the Treasury committee, which will oversee the work of chancellor Rachel Reeves and her department.

Hillier, a former junior minister under Gordon Brown, the last Labour prime minister, will have the key task of scrutinising Reeves’s first Budget on October 30, including the “painful” measures the chancellor said are necessary to balance the books.