Scotland's ruling party has voted to call for a ban on Elon Musk's social media platform X. On the final day of the SNP's annual conference in Aberdeen on October 17, 2026, delegates overwhelmingly backed a motion supporting a UK-wide ban on X, and calling for the party, its elected representatives, councils, the Scottish Government and other public bodies to stop using what the motion called "harmful platforms that harbour abusive content."
What the motion says
The resolution, moved by SNP member Erin Lux, demands a UK-wide ban on X, formerly Twitter, and insists the SNP, elected officials, councils, the Scottish Government and Holyrood authorities remove themselves from the platform. An SNP spokesperson confirmed after the debate: "As per the motion passed by conference, we will review our use of X and report to the party's national executive." X has been contacted for comment.
The case for the ban
Ms Lux told delegates there were many reasons to leave the platform. She claimed X and its AI chatbot Grok "continue to host and produce child sexual abuse material," called the platform a "hotbed of mis- and disinformation," and said research had shown using the platform "shifted views rightwards."
"Do we really want our party messaging appearing alongside nudified images of our fellow politicians? Do we think it is acceptable to force people to log into a site that shares child sexual abuse material to find out if the trains are back on? Is it really in our interests to keep driving traffic towards a right wing radicalisation machine?" she asked delegates, calling on the party to "show moral strength and the courage of our convictions."
The case against
Delegate David Birkett argued the party should stay on the platform despite its flaws. Citing user numbers, he told the conference: "Bluesky has 10.4 million active monthly users, X has 551 million. Bluesky has three million daily active users, X has 251 million. Those numbers speak for themselves."
He also argued for individual judgment: "I also believe in treating party bodies, candidates and elected members like grown-ups, who can make their own assessment of which platforms they choose to join without some edict." He highlighted X's practical role in informing the public about ferry, train and road disruptions, adding: "Maybe one day Bluesky and others will have the reach that X does and we can rethink this. But until it does, we should keep the party, the Government, the Parliament and other public bodies on the platform."
The irony critics seized on
One detail drew particular attention: the SNP has almost 320,000 followers on X and regularly posts there, including several updates from the conference itself in recent days. Critics of the motion have pointed to that gap between the vote and the party's continued use of the platform. The same conference week also saw the SNP cancel a pro-life group's booked fringe event, and some critics have linked the two episodes as a pattern around speech and censorship - a framing the party's supporters reject.
Watch: Search YouTube for video coverage of the SNP conference vote to ban X - news outlets are reporting on the Aberdeen vote and the reaction.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
The takeaway
The vote is non-binding on the UK government, but it puts Scotland's governing party on record demanding the ban of a platform used by hundreds of millions of people - while still posting to its own 320,000 followers there. Whether the SNP's review of its X use leads to an actual exit, and whether Westminster takes any notice, will show whether this was a signal of intent or the full extent of the action.
Sources: Brit Brief, Press Association, Evening Standard