‘Deeply irresponsible’: UK justice minister slams Musk for comments about riots
In short:
UK Justice Minister Heidi Alexander has slammed American tech billionaire Elon Musk for his “unacceptable” comments about the riots gripping England and Northern Ireland.
Mr Musk posted on his social media platform X that a “civil war” in the UK was inevitable.
What’s next?
UK Technology Minister Peter Kyle has warned users spreading disinformation will have “nowhere to hide” after he met TikTok, Meta, Google and X representatives on Monday.
A UK government minister criticised American tech billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday for “unacceptable” comments on social media about the far-right riots gripping England and Northern Ireland.
Riots, suspected to be led by anti-immigrant groups, have spread across England following the murder of three children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the country’s north-west town Southport last week.
About 400 people have been arrested so far, and the UK Justice department said nearly 600 prison places have been secured to accommodate those engaged in violence.
The riots have been fuelled by disinformation claiming the stabbing suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker. He is 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, who was born in Britain.
The rioters have targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers, forcing the government to provide emergency security to Islamic places of worship.
The owner of X drew criticism for writing on the site on Sunday that a British “civil war” was inevitable.
It came in a reply to another X user blaming the riots on “the effects of mass migration and open borders”.
“Use of language such as a ‘civil war’ is in no way acceptable,” Justice Minister Heidi Alexander said.
She branded Mr Musk’s comments as “deeply irresponsible”.
“We are seeing police officers being seriously injured, buildings set alight, and so I really do think that everyone who has a platform should be exercising their power responsibly,” she told Times Radio.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said on Monday their was “no justification” for the comment.
Mr Musk sparked further ire on Monday with a provocative reply to a tweet by Mr Starmer.
In a post on X on Monday, Mr Starmer vowed to apply “criminal law online as well as offline”, adding that “we will not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities”.
Mr Musk replied, “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?”
Bots, ‘state actors’ blamed for disinformation
Influencer Andrew Tate and far-right, anti-Islam figurehead Tommy Robinson are among people promoting false claims about Rudakubana on X.
Mr Starmer’s spokesperson also blamed “bot activity online” for the disinformation, suggesting the false rumours could have been “amplified with the involvement of state actors”.
EuropeInvasion, an anti-immigrant X account with hundreds of thousands of followers, still has a post up falsely claiming that the attacker was “confirmed to be Muslim”.
An AI-generated image depicting Muslim men chasing a child wearing a British flag has over 900,000 views.
Technology Minister Peter Kyle met representatives from TikTok, Meta, Google and X on Monday and warned that social media users spreading misinformation will have “nowhere to hide”.
Mr Musk has reduced content moderation on the platform since taking over Twitter, instead relying on user-written “community notes”.
He also regularly voices support for right-wing causes and politicians like Donald Trump in the US and Javier Milei in Argentina.
AFP/Reuters
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