Given the toxicity of social media, a moral question now faces all of us: is it still ethical to use it? | Frances Ryan

"MPs are defending him on a platform that has in the past month allowed users to create sexualised images of women and girls. This says something about the unprecedented way in which X has been tied to modern politics since it was still known as Twitter, as well as how widespread the culture of indifference is to the violation of female bodies, both online and off."

"Since Elon Musk bought X, on top of deepfakes of sexually explicit images, the site's algorithm has ramped up its boosting of rightwing content, with Musk himself posting about how the white race was rapidly dying and other extreme views on race almost every day of January. Facebook, long accused of mass data collection and involvement in Russia-backed election interference, dumped fact-checkers weeks before Donald Trump's second term."

Cabinet ministers publicly defended the prime minister on X while the platform has recently allowed users to create sexualised images of women and girls. X's ownership under Elon Musk coincided with increased boosting of rightwing content and frequent extreme posts on race. Facebook reduced fact-checking capacity before a major political event and faces accusations of mass data collection and election interference. Instagram has been shown to worsen teenage girls' body image. TikTok has exposed under-13s to self-harm content. Substack earns money hosting extremist newsletters. These developments raise ethical questions about posting on and using major social-media platforms.

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