A full-on ‘Twitter beef’ has erupted between the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, and the leftist British government over the anti-mass migration riots, potentially laying the groundwork for a censorship battle between the social media giant and the UK state.
Moving fast to apportion blame for national unrest over mass migration and the Muslim vigilante response throwing the country into chaos, the new Labour government has set its sights on social media, including right-wing activists like Tommy Robinson and X boss Elon Musk, for — they claim — stoking tensions in England.
Musk has effectively embodied the role of chief troll of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, branding the leftist leader as “Two Tier Keir,” over allegations that the British government has been policing violence and riots from mostly working class white British men differently than the Muslim community in the country, which has also taken to the streets en masse over the past week in large and sometimes violent gangs.
Responding to Starmer’s vow that his government will “not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities,” Musk replied on his social media platform: “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?”.
Musk has also highlighted the history of British authorities overlooking criminality among Muslim populations, including the Rotherham grooming gang scandal, in which at least 1,400 young girls were systemically sexually abused and trafficked by members of the city’s Pakistani community for years. The local authorities knew about the issue, but ignored them over fears of “racial tensions” that could stem from arresting minority-community paedophiles.
Musk questioned whether such crimes were still being committed and overlooked in Britain, which leading anti-grooming gang campaigners like former Detective Maggie Oliver suggest very much remains an ongoing issue.
After the Tesla chief suggested that civil war in England was “inevitable” given the cross-party multi-decade agenda of allowing “incompatible cultures” to be “brought together without assimilation” through the importation of millions of foreigners into the country, Justice Minister Heidi Alexander called Musk “deeply irresponsible” and said that “everyone should be appealing for calm”.
“Use of language such as a ‘civil war’ is in no way acceptable. 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,” Alexander said.
“The idea that you can sit behind a computer screen or sit behind the screen of your mobile phone and somehow think that that protects you from the law is for the birds,” she added. “So, we will take a very robust approach to the social media companies.”
In turn, Elon Musk levied a barrage of critiques and memes deriding the state of free speech in Britain, including a mock Family Guy post of an electric chair death penalty scene, which he captioned: “In 2030 for making a Facebook comment that the UK government didn’t like.”
The X owner also replied to a meme showing men in military garb and guns with the British Union Jack superimposed on their backs as they approached a woman’s front door with the caption, “We saw your meme, step outside!”
The posts turned out to be prescient, with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announcing that 28-year-old Jordan Parlour became the first person to be convicted for a Facebook post in relation to the anti-mass migration riots over the past week, pleading guilty to “stirring up hatred” online.
According to Sky News, Parlour had reportedly shared messages on the social media platform advocating the targeting of a hotel in Leeds. Although the hotel was attacked on Saturday during riots in the city, there was no evidence that Parlour was in attendance.
Nick Price, director of CPS legal services, said after the conviction: “I want to be absolutely clear, anyone involved in inciting this thuggish behaviour will face severe consequences. Parlour advocated violence through his online posts and risked the safety of those staying at the hotel.
“The CPS will continue to act swiftly and robustly regarding these cases and ensure those responsible for such deplorable criminality are brought to justice.”
The fervour of the new Labour government to clamp down on social media may foreshadow a legal battle with Elon Musk’s X and other firms. Last year, the Conservative-in-name-only government of Rishi Sunak passed the Online Safety Act, vastly expanding the state’s ability to police the internet.
While the law has yet to come into effect, it will empower British broadcasting regulator Ofcom to impose fines of up to £18 million ($22 million) or 10 per cent of global annual turnover, depending on which is higher, against social media companies that fail to censor to the standards of the British government. The impending restrictions could see free speech vastly curtailed in the UK and potentially even see companies like X choose to withdraw entirely from the country.