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UK Football Policing Unit chief says X is ‘hiding behind’ legal processes and delays

Mike Ankers, the deputy director of the UK Football Policing Unit, has said there has been a ‘massive drop-off’ in successful prosecutions

www.theguardian.com

One of the UK’s leading police officers in prosecuting online harms has said the ability to secure identifying information from the social media company X has become “significantly worse” over the past 12 months.

Mike Ankers, the deputy director of the UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU), said there had been a “massive drop-off” in successful prosecutions in 2025, and that the Elon Musk-owned platform was “hiding behind” legal processes that delayed the identification of users posting hateful content online.

Speaking at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group of MPs on Football, Ankers said that “in terms of social media companies, be absolutely clear, they can do more”.

Ankers last month led the successful prosecution of a man for abusing England’s Jess Carter on TikTok during last summer’s Euros. Speaking about X’s practices, he said, “They’ve never refused [a request for identifying information] but they have a process in place which they hide behind, in terms of the information is in America where they have slightly different laws. We have a six-month window of opportunity to investigate most online abuse. The process, which they ask us to go through, takes about 12 to 18 months. So I won’t always get the information.

“We’ve seen a massive drop-off in terms of successful prosecutions with regards to X because actually we’re not getting the information in time. With regards to TikTok, Snapchat and Meta, every single other provider will share the information, and we will get it in less than a month.”