Musk Hits Out At UK Justice System, Amid War Of Words

Tom Jowitt,
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UK government calls on Elon Musk to act responsibly amid provocative posts about unrest, but Musk lashes out at the Prime Minister

Elon Musk is engaged in a war of words with senior British officials, despite the UK government warning the billionaire over some of his tweets.

The owner of X and CEO of SpaceX had in a series of tweets this week suggested that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, in reference to violent protests. The Associated Press reported that the British government has called on Elon Musk to act responsibly over his tweets.

However Musk also shared a video of a person purportedly being arrested for offensive comments on Facebook, tweeting: “Is this Britain or the Soviet Union?”

Elon Musk
Image credit: US Northern Command

War of words

The unrest in the UK began after right-wing activists used social media to spread misinformation about a knife attack that saw three girls murdered during a Taylor Swift-themed dance event on 29 July.

New Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has described the riots as “far-right thuggery,” and has promised that rioters will swiftly be punished. So far, more than 400 people have been arrested.

Musk in a tweet compared the prison sentences of three men and called out the alleged two tier British criminal justice system, which he cast as treating Muslims more leniently than far-right activists.

Musk’s high profile intervention into the protests and unrest in the United Kingdom, prompted a response from the British government, calling on Musk to act responsibly

According to the Associated Press, Justice Minister Heidi Alexander told Times Radio that the “use of language such as a ‘civil war’ is in no way acceptable,” Alexander told Times Radio. “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.”

The government also called on social media companies, such as Musk’s X, to do more to combat the spread of misleading and inflammatory information online.

Alexander reportedly said Tuesday that the government would look at strengthening the existing Online Safety Act, which was approved last year and won’t be fully implemented until 2025.

“We’ve been working with the social media companies, and some of the action that they’ve taken already with the automatic removal of some false information is to be welcomed,” Alexander told the BBC. “But there is undoubtedly more that the social media companies could and should be doing.”

Australia clash

Elon Musk is known for his increasingly right wing stance, and has no qualms about involving himself in politics – even of foreign countries.

On Wednesday Musk tweeted that US Vice President “Kamala (Harris) is quite literally a communist.”

Earlier this year Musk was publicly rebuked by the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, after Musk had accused Australia of censorship following an Australian judge who had ordered X (as well as Meta Platforms) to block users worldwide from accessing video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church.

The offending video footage was of the stabbing of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel on 15 April while he was giving a livestreamed service at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley.

Musk at the time tweeted from his personal account that “the Australian censorship commissar is demanding *global* content bans!”

Prime Minister Albanese then berated Musk in several television interviews, describing Musk as an “arrogant billionaire” who considered himself above the law and was out of touch with the public.

“We’ll do what’s necessary to take on this arrogant billionaire who thinks he’s above the law, but also above common decency,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “The idea that someone would go to court for the right to put up violent content on a platform shows how out of touch Mr. Musk is. Social media needs to have social responsibility with it.”

Albanese told Sky News, “This is a bloke who’s chosen ego and showing violence over common sense.”

“This isn’t about censorship. It’s about common sense and common decency. And Elon Musk should show some,” Albanese told Seven Network at the time.