Following protests and riots on the streets of England this week, officials in the British government have condemned X Corp. and its owner Elon Musk for stoking the flames of discontent.
In an interview with The Times newspaper published today, Peter Kyle, Britain’s secretary of science, innovation, and technology, said Musk “is accountable to no one.” That was in reference to Musk’s outspoken and barbed comments on his platform where he has 193 million followers.
Protestors in the U.K. hit the streets to protest mass immigration after a mass stabbing in the town of Southport on July 29. Peaceful protests turned into violent protests with looting in areas of England and Northern, the worst kind of violence seen on British streets since 2011. The U.K. government said the anti-immigrant, racist or even fascist feeling was partly a result of misinformation being spread online.
Cue, Elon Musk, who tweeted, “Civil war is inevitable,” inspiring widespread disgruntlement among British politicians and media. “There’s no justification for comments like that,” a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. “What we’ve seen in this country is organized, violent thuggery that has no place, either on our streets or online.”
The protests led to anti-protests, with people on both sides becoming the victims of violence. Musk then upped the ante with what some media said were combustible remarks when he tweeted, “Why aren’t all communities protected in Britain? @Keir_Starmer.” That was in reference to the “#TwoTierKeir” theory from the right, which says policing in the U.K. is harsher toward the mostly white anti-immigration crowd. The government has called this untrue.
Musk further fanned the flames of discontent when he tweeted, “Britain is turning into the Soviet Union,” adding, “Seriously.” The British economy has not been great for a long time and living standards have indeed dropped, especially among the working classes, so there is pervasive anger and frustration. But British officials are concerned that influential men such as Musk should not be making things worse.
Heidi Alexander, U.K. courts minister, said Musk or anyone else who owns a social platform should “behave responsibly.” There have even been calls to drag Musk in front of a parliamentary committee, stating that Musk’s feisty remarks have amplified hatred and incited violence.
The tech billionaire stands accused of sitting on the other side of the world on his social media throne, stirring the cauldron of British emotions. Last week, Starmer said in an interview, “Let me also say to large social media companies and those who run them: Violent disorder, clearly whipped up online, that is also a crime, it’s happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere.”
He wasn’t referring specifically to Musk or X, although when the country’s National Security Online Information Team more recently released a report on social media posts that incite hate or are misinformation, they said X was slower than Meta Platforms Inc., TikTok and Google LLC at taking them down.
Under Britain’s Online Safety Bill, regulated by Ofcom, it may have been able to fine X 10% of its revenue for the recent breaches – if indeed they were found to be breaches — but the law hasn’t been implemented yet. In light of recent events, there have been calls to push it through faster. The law has been called a Big Brother kind of state surveillance by free speech activists, and they have a point, but right now the advocates of censorship in the U.K. are feeling justified.
“We’re moving quickly to implement the Online Safety Bill so we can enforce it as soon as possible,” an Ofcom spokesperson said today. “To do this, we are required to consult on codes of practice and guidance, after which the new safety duties on platforms will become enforceable.”