Elon Musk launches Twitter tirade over far-right riots as minister brands billionaire ‘deeply irresponsible’
In a series of posts to his social media platform, X, Musk repeatedly suggested that communities in the UK are treated differently under the law
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Elon Musk has launched another Twitter tirade about the UK’s handling of crime after he was accused of being “deeply irresponsible” by a government minister.
Posting on his social media platform on Tuesday afternoon, he repeatedly implied that communities are treated differently under the law under so-called ‘two-tier policing’.
In one of his posts, Musk shared a video from US right-wing influencer, Andy Ngo, showing a group of men wearing balaclavas, with some waving Palestinian flags. The caption claimed “armed ‘Muslim patrol’ members surrounded and attacked a pub after marching around the area looking for white right-wingers to attack.”
Reposting the clip, the owner of X asked: “Why aren’t all communities protected in Britain?” He later replied to the video, which now has more than 10 million views, with the hashtag, “#TwoTierKeir”.
Downing Street on Monday rejected allegations of “two-tier” policing in the UK, with a spokesperson saying the government does not “recognise that characterisation”.
In another post, Mr Musk shared an infographic suggesting that white men serve longer sentences for less serious crimes. The graphic, which pictured three different men, claimed that one served 15 weeks in jail for posting a “racist comment on Facebook”, while wrongly claiming another did 180 hours of community service and no jail time for the rape of a 12 year old girl. Instead he was convicted of three counts of sexual assault and assaulting a child under 13 by penetration and given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Sharing the post, which now has more than 11 million views after it was posted by Hercules actor Kevin Sorbo, Musk asked: “What the hell is going on?”.
The tech billionaire also shared unverified footage of police officers arresting someone for allegedly making “offensive or obscene” comments on social media, saying: “Arrested for making comments on Facebook! Is this Britain or the Soviet Union?”
Does seem one-sided
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 5, 2024
The billionaire tech boss also responded to a social media post from the prime minister, questioning the government’s decision to provide extra protection for mosques. He asked: “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on all communities?”
Musk’s Twitter spree comes after he posted on Monday, “civil war is inevitable”.
Referring to those comments, justice minister Heidi Alexander told LBC Radio Mr Musk’s remarks were “totally unjustifiable”.
“We have got police officers being seriously injured on our streets,” she said. People are looting buildings. They’re setting buildings alight, and for someone who has a big platform, a large following, to be exercising that power in such an irresponsible way, I think is actually pretty unconscionable.”
“I think everyone at the moment should be calling for calm. We have to find a way to tackle this disorder that we’re seeing on our streets and in our communities. We will have, and continue to have, a robust police response. There will be swift and effective justice, but all individuals who have a platform should be behaving responsibly.”
Former Conservative cabinet minister Rory Stewart replied to Mr Musk on X, saying: “Seriously? Since when have you claimed to understand British communities or British politics? Exactly how many days have you spent with these communities?”
“Does it ever occur to you that this might perhaps be the wrong time to sound off about a subject you know nothing about?”
Lib Dem MP Tim Farron said there is “no excuse” for Mr Musk’s remarks, adding: “I’m white and a Christian. No one is chucking bricks at my church or telling me to go back to where I come from. I’m concerned about attacks on the communities that are actually being attacked.”
A Downing Street spokesperson said there is no justification for the original comment that “civil war is inevitable”, adding: “We’re talking about a minority of thugs that do not speak for Britain.”
As prime minister, Rishi Sunak rolled out the red carpet for Musk, hosting him as one of the star guests at the UK’s AI Safety Summit last year. Mr Sunak conducted a 50-minute interview with the billionaire which saw the pair discuss how London is a leading hub for the AI industry and how best to regulate the technology in the future.
The row comes amid growing claims that social media is fuelling the violent disorder seen across UK cities over the last week.
It threatens to derail government efforts to get social media companies to play a more active role in removing harmful content from their platforms.
Hundreds of people have been arrested after riots linked to the far right rocked major cities including Manchester, Liverpool and Hull, with violent mobs setting fire to hotels housing refugees and clashing with the police.
Science and technology secretary Peter Kyle met with the bosses of X, Tiktok, Meta and Google on Monday evening as part of an attempt to “make clear their responsibility to continue to work with us to stop the spread of hateful misinformation and incitement”.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments