Sport England has suspended its presence on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, with the public funding body accusing the site of “increasingly promoting and monetising an environment that is hostile to women and girls”.
Chairman Chris Boardman announced the decision in a blog post, pointing to what he described as “abhorrent outputs” from the platform’s artificial intelligence tool Grok.
These outputs, Boardman said, “have contributed to the amplification of and worse, normalisation of, misogynistic content” and “runs directly counter to what we stand for”.
The decision follows media regulator Ofcom opening an investigation into X amid concerns that Grok is being utilised to generate sexualised imagery.
Ministers have welcomed the watchdog’s inquiry and called for its swift completion.
Sport England serves as the body responsible for boosting physical activity across the country, distributing both government funding and National Lottery money to grassroots sporting initiatives.
The organisation had previously contacted Ofcom last summer, expressing what it called “deep concern regarding the recent wave of racist and sexist abuse” targeting the England women’s football squad on social media platforms.
Boardman said: “Sport should always be a place where everyone feels safe and welcome.
“Those are values worth standing up for. When a space undermines that, walking away is not weakness – it is a responsibility.
“Last summer we urged action on the horrific sexist and racist abuse being levelled at our Lionesses.
“Alongside these actions, we have to make choices about where we show up as an organisation and where we don’t.”
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Boardman acknowledged that some organisations prefer to remain on challenging platforms to contest harmful narratives from within.
He maintained that departure was the appropriate course for Sport England.
Research published last month by the BBC found over 2,000 highly abusive messages.
These included threats of death and rape, which were directed at Premier League and Women’s Super League figures during a single weekend.
The platform X accounted for 82 per cent of this abuse.
The platform has previously stated that users who create illegal content through Grok will face consequences equivalent to those for uploading such material directly.
Platform owner Musk has accused the UK Government of seeking “any excuse for censorship” when questioned about why other AI services were not under scrutiny.
Meanwhile, UK Sport has invested more than £300,000 in an app providing Olympic and Paralympic athletes with protection from online abuse through to Los Angeles 2028.
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