A senior executive at X has today sidestepped allegations that the social media platform has a Right-wing bias.

Giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament, Wifredo Fernandez, the company’s Director of Global Government Affairs, insisted that the platform’s users “see all sides of a particular debate”, adding: “I truly do think we are a global town square in that regard, and sometimes the local pub, where a lot of banter and discussion happens.”

Today’s hearing concerned how Big Tech firms are responding to coordinated disinformation campaigns perpetrated by foreign actors, with Fernandez appearing alongside senior representatives from Meta and TikTok. The Committee’s chair, Labour MP and former shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, asked the X official whether the platform had an “appalling Right-wing bias” and if it was “amplifying” pro-Reform UK posts. “[X] is certainly a place for politics, and certainly there’s a fervent user base in the UK across all the political spectrum,” Fernandez responded. “Our goal is for users on X to be able to seek the truth and for the algorithm to be as objective as possible.” He added: “We are the only platform to publish our recommendation algorithm, so we welcome the study and scrutiny of it.”

Labour MP Alex Ballinger, another member of the Committee, cited a Nature study from earlier this year which found that X boosted Right-wing content to influence users’ political views. As examples, the MP pointed to its coverage of various criminal investigations into US President Donald Trump and the war in Ukraine, as well as the popularity of conservative activists on the platform. Ballinger added that this was “pushing the Overton window […] in a particular direction”. Regarding his own experience of the site, he said: “I get a lot of far-Right, American, Christian, conservative content […] I don’t get far-Left content.”

Fernandez insisted that the research “was based on data from about three years ago so it’s not really relevant to the algorithm you’re experiencing today”. When Thornberry asked whether he was suggesting that “X is far more even-handed and, indeed, Left-wing than it was three years ago”, the tech executive answered: “We welcome fresh research and study. Whether a particular user wants to be in a particular echo chamber or they want to see views from folks they may not agree with, that balance is important for the public discourse.”

Appearing at another parliamentary hearing last year, Fernandez apologised for threatening and racist messages sent to British MPs on the platform, calling the posts “abhorrent”. He also claimed that X had become “a safer online environment” since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company in 2022. “We have a very dedicated and diligent Safety Team,” Fernandez said. “I’m very proud to represent [their] work.”

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is UnHerd’s Deputy Editor, Newsroom.

RobLownie

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