Rupert Lowe set to be paid as much for divisive posts on Elon Musk’s X as for being MP

Rupert Lowe, the leader of the Restore Britain party, is on track to earn as much from his activity on Elon Musk's social media platform X as he does from his parliamentary salary. Lowe's income from X, formerly Twitter, stems from posts that have included demands for mass deportations, raising concerns among critics about the platform's influence on political discourse.

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We tend to treat a politician’s online reach and their income as two separate stories, but for Rupert Lowe they’re part of the same mechanism. The more his content is seen, the more X pays him for it.

According to declarations in the register of MPs' financial interests, Lowe has earned approximately £932 per hour for his posts on X since the beginning of the year. This rate is more than double the average £377 per hour he earned last year. His hourly earnings saw a further steep increase over the summer, reaching £1,476 per hour since June.

Critics argue that X's revenue-sharing scheme, which rewards users based on the performance of their posts, is incentivizing and favoring divisive political content. They suggest this dynamic is pushing the UK's political discourse further to the right, with Elon Musk himself reportedly amplifying Lowe's posts. Lowe's total earnings from X since the 2024 general election have surpassed £105,000, with more than half of that amount earned in the first eight months of 2026. If his current average earnings continue, he could earn just over £93,000 this year, nearing his MP's annual salary of £98,599.

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Scrutiny is rightly falling on other sources of foreign money in British politics. However, a US-based billionaire simultaneously paying and boosting an ideologically aligned British politician through his own platform is going strikingly under-reported. X’s financial and reach incentive structure rewards division and is shaping British politics with almost none of the scrutiny it deserves.

Ambrose Pym, a researcher specializing in the far-right and technology, noted that Lowe's online reach and income are intertwined. "The more his content is seen, the more X pays him for it," Pym stated. He added that while scrutiny is rightly applied to foreign funding in politics, a US-based billionaire simultaneously funding and promoting an ideologically aligned politician through his own platform is "strikingly under-reported." Pym contends that X's financial incentives are shaping British politics with insufficient oversight.

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If I wanted to make money, I would not be in politics. I donate my entire net MP salary to local charities in my constituency – being a politician...

Lowe, who founded Restore Britain after leaving Nigel Farage's Reform UK, has described his party's primary achievement as "dragging mass deportations [of migrants] into mainstream politics." When asked about his rising X earnings, Lowe told The Guardian, "If I wanted to make money, I would not be in politics." He also stated that he donates his entire net MP salary to local charities in his constituency of Great Yarmouth.

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dragging mass deportations [of migrants] into mainstream politics