Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom are set to summon businessman Elon Musk to appear before an inquiry into social media’s claimed role in the anti-mass migration protests following the stabbing spree in Southport this summer.
According to a report from Britain’s left-wing Guardian newspaper — which announced last week it would no longer post on ‘X’ — MPs are looking to call Mr Musk before a parliamentary inquiry to testify about the alleged role his social media platform had in spreading “disinformation” in the wake of the mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift dance party for children that left three young girls dead and several others injured in July.
The horrific killings sparked protests, some of which devolved into riots, over the mass migration agenda imposed upon the nation against the will of the British people. With information initially being withheld from the public about the suspected attacker, speculation ran rampant on social media, leading politicians and the legacy media to blame the outbursts of violence on “disinformation”.
Although it was later revealed that suspect Axel Rudakubana was not a Muslim asylum seeker as some had speculated online — having been born in Wales to migrants from Rwanda — the British government has faced accusations of spreading disinformation itself after Rudakubana was charged with terror offences last month, including for allegedly downloading an Al-Qaeda Training Manual for jihadis and production of the biological toxin ricin. Former chief advisor to Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, has asserted that Downing Street would have been informed “immediately” about the alleged terror ties.
In contrast to the heavy focus on the supposed role of “disinformation” in fuelling the riots, others such as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage — who like Elon Musk was accused of contributing to the anger over the mass stabbing attack — has suggested that a lack of information from police in the aftermath of the attack left a vacuum for speculation to run rampant, and therefore has called on authorities to be more forthcoming and transparent with the public.
Nevertheless, the political establishment in Britain appears intent on pinning the blame for the riots on social media, while devoting comparatively little public attention to the mass stabbing attack which actually sparked the outrage. In addition to Musk, the parliamentary inquiry is planning to demand that executives from other social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook-owning Meta and TikTok, give testimony.
Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West MP and the Labour chairwoman of the select committee Chi Onwurah said that the inquiry would seek to “get to the bottom of the links between social media algorithms, generative AI, and the spread of harmful or false content.”
Commenting on the decision to summon Musk before the committee, Onwurah said that the owner “has very strong views on multiple aspects of this… I would certainly like the opportunity to cross-examine him to see … how he reconciles his promotion of freedom of expression with his promotion of pure disinformation.”
It is unclear if the American entrepreneur would acquiesce to the demands of the British parliamentarians, given his public warnings against traveling to the UK in general over the nation’s draconian speech restrictions.
“I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted paedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts,” Musk said in September after not receiving an invitation to the Labour government’s international investment summit.
While the British government cannot compel the Tesla chief to attend the hearings, the Online Safety Act 2023, passed under the former “Conservative” government, grants UK authorities to levy large fines, potentially up to ten per cent of a social media company’s global turnover, should it be determined that it ran afoul vaguely defined “harm” standards.
Such an extreme move may not be on the cards, however, given Musk’s close relationship with incoming President Donald Trump, whom the left-wing Labour Party government is seeking to mend ties with after years of senior figures who now sit in government harshly criticizing the American leader.
Noting this political reality, veteran Labour strategist Peter “the Prince of Darkness” Mandelson — widely believed to be on the shortlist to become Britain’s next ambassador to Washington — called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to mend ties with Musk.
“He is a sort of technological, industrial, commercial phenomenon,” Mandelson said. “And it would be unwise, in my view, for Britain to ignore him. You cannot pursue these feuds.”
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