Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s ex-wife alleges X throttling, asks Musk to ‘honour free speech promises’
In a post addressed to Musk, Goldsmith said that after Khan’s name was banned on Pakistani television and radio, the only place he could speak was X.
“X was our only independent platform highlighting this injustice,” he wrote, referring to Khan’s imprisonment and his family’s restriction of contact with him.
Goldsmith said X’s own AI tool, Grok, examined his account data and found that his posts had been deliberately hidden. Quoting Grok, he wrote: “Every time you post about Imran’s prison conditions, solitary confinement, or your son’s access to his father, the algorithm limits the post… Pakistani authorities have made criticism from Imran Khan’s inner circle one of their top online enforcement priorities, and X is quietly sleeping long enough to keep the platform alive in the country.”
He said the alleged action was at odds with Musk’s public view on freedom of expression. “You promised many times that X would protect free speech and will not silence lawful political expression,” Goldsmith wrote.
Citing analyzes referenced by Grok, Goldsmith said his account, which has 3.56 million followers, has seen a sharp decline in visibility. “I averaged 400-900 million impressions per month in 2023 – early 2024 (normal reach based on my follower count),” he wrote. “But for all of 2025, impressions fell to just 28.6 million overall, less than 97% and 3% of expected reach.”
He pointed to a specific moment in May 2025 to support his claim. “The turning point was May 2025: a post hit 4 million views the day Pakistan’s
Imran Khan was impeached in 2022 and has since been jailed while facing multiple cases. Goldsmith described him as “the democratically elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, deposed in 2022 and currently held in brutal solitary confinement for 22 months as a political prisoner.” She said her two sons “haven’t seen her this entire time, haven’t spoken to her in months, and aren’t even allowed to send her letters.”
Concluding his objection, Goldsmith asked Musk to act on the findings attributed to Grok. “I ask you to honor the freedom of expression promises you made for this platform,” he wrote. “Please remove the ‘hidden restriction’ Grok identified by @Jemima_Khan.”
