Establishment media in Britain, in an apparent attempt to deflect from the underlying issues facing the UK, have sought to blame social media for the anti-mass migration riots while urging the government to enact more stringent censorship measures.
Elon Musk, social media, and “disinformation” are the true culprits — legacy media outlets have argued — for the protests and riots that broke out across the country after three young girls were killed in a mass stabbing by an alleged second-generation migrant from Rwanda.
In an article for the left-wing Guardian newspaper, columnist and BBC presenter Jonathan Freedland pronounced on Friday: “If the UK authorities truly want to hold accountable all those who unleashed riots and pogroms in Britain, they need to go after Elon Musk.
The Guardian writer claimed that the Tesla chief had made X “a safe space for racism and hate almost as soon as he bought it,” pointing to the reinstatement of banned personalities like Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate.
“Lies can indeed kill and, though there are of course many others, one of the world’s most prolific enemies of truth is Elon Musk. He is surely the global far right’s most significant figure, and he holds the world’s largest megaphone. As he may put it, a battle to defeat him is now inevitable – and it has to be won,” Freedland wrote.
He suggested that if Kamala Harris is elected as U.S. president in the autumn, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer should work with the White House to implement a global clampdown on so-called disinformation.
Former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, writing for the Independent website, described Musk as an “arsonist with a huge box of matches” while claiming that “regulation has, to date at least, not done much to curb Musk’s enthusiasm for amplifying lies and hatred on his platform.”
This is a problem that can no longer be ignored,” Rusbridger asserted, adding: “But we can fight to insist on some basic boundaries in digital spaces.”
Meanwhile, Associate Editor for the globalist Financial Times, Edward Luce pronounced on X: “Can’t say this enough; Elon Musk’s menace to democracy is intolerable. He’s using the largest & most influential platform in the democratic world to stoke racial conflict and civil breakdown – in his own posts & what X promotes. Democracies can no longer ignore this.”
There have been suggestions that the government shut down social media during times of unrest, and even deploying geo-blocking technology to prevent British users from accessing X at all.
It comes as the new left-wing Labour Party government is reportedly considering amendments to the Online Safety Act, which was passed last year, but has yet to come into effect.
According to a report from The Telegraph, the government may seek to reinstate a scrapped provision to force social media companies to remove “legal but harmful” content on their platforms.
As the legislation stands now, the British broadcasting regulator Ofcom will be empowered to levy heavy fines against social media companies for failing to remove so-called hate speech.
Mr Musk has been heavily critical of the new Labour government, leading the charge against Prime Minister Starmer of overseeing a “two tier” policing system in Britain, alleging that certain groups, depending on their ethnicity or political leanings, are treated differently from others.
He has also compared the state of free speech in the UK to that of the Soviet Union, pointing to recent arrests for comments made on social media within the country.
On Saturday, the X boss defended his platform’s free speech stance, saying: “Freedom of speech is the bedrock of democracy. If the truth is suppressed, it is impossible to make an informed voting decision.
“The degree to which freedom of speech is being undermined around the world is extremely alarming.”