The row comes after Elon Musk sparked debate after making what many left-wing critics accused of being a N azi salute at a Donald Trump
A discussion has broken out on the Civil Service forum on the rival social media platform Reddit, which is often used by employees of Whitehall to discuss work-related issues.
User Mr_Greyhame incited the debate after other sub-Reddits on the site – popular among left-wingers – also began banning external links to X.
He pointed out that the online forum already discourages links to the Telegraph, and argued “Twitter is way worse…”
Mr Musk was accused of making a ‘Nazi salute’ at the Trump rally (Image: Getty)
User Sea-Comprehensive, whose previous comments suggest they are a civil servant, endorsed the call and blasted fellow mandarins opposing a boycott as “shocking”.
They described X as “a service owned by a Nazi”.
Fellow user Toolbox_XXIV, who confirms they are “currently a Whitehall based civil servant”, said they also back the ban as it “would be wrong for a subreddit for civil servants to link to what is now essentially a far right hate page.”
A third user blasted: “Every click on X is monetarily supporting a Nazi.”
“I am the first to defend freedom of speech, but as rational human beings surely we have to draw a line. For me that is giving a Nazi salute on a global stage. He hasn’t even apologised.
“I don’t think we should be directing any monetary benefit to him, even if it is fractions of a penny.
“I would also say the same for Meta. Less evidence of direct Nazism, but they are pretty chummy.”
The Cabinet Office insisted it will still use X (Image: Getty)
A fourth user went further, saying the forum should also ban screenshots of posts on X in order to further reduce engagement with Elon Musk’s platform.
One Reddit user who accused those of backing the ban of politicising the subreddit was criticised by another user, who argued: “Being anti-Nazi isn’t political, it’s a stand against bigotry.”
In response, Reform Deputy Leader Richard Tice told the Express: “Woke civil servants appear to be wasting taxpayer-funded time on preventing free speech and breaking their impartiality obligations. And we wonder why Britain is Broken.”
Another opponent of any shutdown of X posts being shared on the forum warned fellow civil servants that journalists occasionally monitor the page, and would feed into claims that mandarins are politically biased.
More than 50 communities on Reddit have banned X links since the Elon Musk ‘Nazi salute’ row, out of around 100,000 active subreddits.
Richard Tice blasted the bias (Image: Getty)
The row was sparked after Mr Musk thanked MAGA supporters for making Trump’s election win happen, adding: “My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilisation is assured.”
It was during this sentence he made the controversial gesture, however supporters have insisted it was an appropriate gesture to make alongside the “heart goes out to you” comment.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “There is no change to our position on using X.”
