Nigel Farage loses viral touch to Musk-backed Rupert Lowe

{"text":[[{"start":10.7,"text":"The founder of far-right party Restore Britain now has greater reach on social media platform X than Nigel Farage, in a sign of how Elon Musk is pulling Britain’s political discourse towards extreme content."}],[{"start":23.95,"text":"Rupert Lowe has had 10 posts with at least 10mn views since he launched Restore in February. By contrast, Farage has had none, despite having three times as many followers."}],[{"start":34.85,"text":"The figures, obtained by FT analysis, highlight Restore’s outsized influence online, ahead of the knife-edge Makerfield by-election on June 18."}],[{"start":45.55,"text":"Restore is expected to eat into Reform’s vote in the contest, increasing Labour candidate Andy Burnham’s chances of winning the seat."}],[{"start":53.4,"text":"The party’s prominence has raised concerns across the political spectrum about far-right ideas seeping into mainstream UK politics. A Restore spokesperson has said that people without “indigenous British ancestry and Christian faith” cannot be considered British."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":68.4,"text":"Musk, X’s owner and the world’s richest person, backed Lowe and Restore Britain after falling out with Farage early last year over far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson. "}],[{"start":81.95,"text":"He has shared at least eight X posts explicitly naming the party since it launched, including retweets. All but one of these garnered more than 10mn views."}],[{"start":92.35000000000001,"text":"Farage recently accused Musk of splitting the right-wing vote ahead of the Makerfield by-election, telling the Daily Telegraph that Labour’s candidate Andy Burnham would be “delighted” with the X owner’s posts. He criticised Restore as “a party that’s one man with a social media account”."}],[{"start":109.45000000000002,"text":"A Survation poll conducted last week found that 7 per cent of respondents would vote for Restore in Makerfield, enough to prevent Reform from beating Burnham. "}],[{"start":118.75000000000001,"text":"Lowe officially launched the nativist party this year, after being suspended from Reform last March. Its policies range from mass deportations to repealing the Online Safety Act — the law under which regulator Ofcom launched an investigation into X’s Grok chatbot for generating sexualised imagery, including images of children. "}],[{"start":140.8,"text":"The day after Lowe officially launched the party, Musk urged his followers to “Join Rupert Lowe in Restore Britain”. That post has 24mn views."}],[{"start":149.95000000000002,"text":"It is unclear how much of Lowe’s reach is genuine engagement. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue think-tank has previously identified tens of Facebook pages linked to apparent commercial misinformation sites sharing posts in his favour."}],[{"start":164.60000000000002,"text":"Farage last month said that X was “becoming a very unpleasant and very dangerous place”, pointing to the online abuse that Reform’s “minority candidates” were receiving. In 2022, before Musk took over, he had complained that the platform’s algorithm meant he was getting “all-time low” engagement. His follower count has since grown again."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":186.05,"text":"The X owner’s endorsement was now a huge factor in Lowe’s reach, as the platform’s algorithm was “attuned to Musk’s engagement particularly”, said Olivia Brown, an associate professor in digital futures at the University of Bath. "}],[{"start":201.75,"text":"“You can’t deny the sheer level of engagement that Lowe is having in comparison with other political figures,” she added: “I wouldn’t be surprised if it transfers into a genuine impact in the by-election.”"}],[{"start":213.25,"text":"Nine of Lowe’s posts since Restore’s launch have garnered more views than Sir Keir Starmer’s most seen post in the same period. "}],[{"start":221.55,"text":"The most popular of those outlines how Restore would “brutally crack down on knife crime” and vows “instant deportation for foreign nationals found carrying [knives]”. It has received 61mn views."}],[{"start":233.8,"text":"Sam Jeffers, co-founder of advertising monitoring platform Who Targets Me, said the equivalent marketing value of Lowe’s X reach was “enormous”. "}],[{"start":242.70000000000002,"text":"But Facebook — where Lowe has 1.2mn followers, compared with Starmer’s 650,000 and Farage’s 2.1mn — was “probably more impactful and useful” than X in the context of the upcoming by-election, he said. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":258.85,"text":"Lowe’s use of X is lucrative: he has declared more than £72,000 in earnings for posting on the platform — far more than any other MP — since late 2024. "}],[{"start":270.5,"text":"Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey previously railed against MPs’ X payments, saying that they were “in essence a dangerous loophole in our political funding laws” that let Musk give money to Reform MPs and Lowe. Foreign individuals and companies are not allowed to donate to British political parties or individuals under electoral law."}],[{"start":289.9,"text":"Farage has earned more than £21,000 from X since late 2024, while fellow Reform MPs Richard Tice and Lee Anderson have each declared more than £6,000. "}],[{"start":301.5,"text":"Restore did not respond to a request for comment."}],[{"start":304.95,"text":"Additional reporting by Joel Suss in London"}],[{"start":314.45,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780036864_1896.mp3"}