Downing Road condemns Elon Musk for declare ‘civil battle is inevitable’ in UK amid far-right riots and assaults
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Downing Road has condemned Elon Musk for his declare that “civil battle is inevitable” in Britain, saying there’s “no justification for feedback like that”.
The spokesperson added: “We’re speaking a couple of minority of thugs that don’t converse for Britain.”
Misinformation on Mr Musk’s social media platform Twitter/X has been blamed for serving to to gasoline racist far-right riots and assaults.
Following lies about the identity of the suspect within the Southport knife assault, dysfunction continued throughout the weekend as racist mobs clashed with police in Hull, Halifax, Liverpool, London, Southport and Rotherham, and started fires at hotels housing asylum seekers in Manvers and Tamworth.
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With posts that includes misinformation on Twitter/X garnering thousands and thousands of interactions, Mr Musk – who purchased the platform in 2022 for £34.5bn – responded to a put up on Sunday sharing footage of the violence, which claimed dysfunction is the “results of mass migration and open borders”.
“Civil battle is inevitable,” the Tesla and SpaceX founder replied. It marks the sixth time since October that Mr Musk has claimed civil battle is brewing in Europe.
On Monday, Downing Road reiterated that social media firms “can and ought to be doing extra” to counter deceptive or harmful materials hosted on their platforms, including that they’ve a accountability to make sure the security of their customers.
Mr Musk drew criticism from throughout the political spectrum for his remarks, with Tim Montgomerie, editor of the Conservative House web site, saying: “Terribly irresponsible from Elon Musk. We want leaders to de-escalate, not elevate fears.”
Michael Stephens, a senior fellow on the International Coverage Analysis Institute, stated: “Proof if ever it was wanted that making electrical vehicles and house rockets doesn’t equal political understanding. Civil battle is completely not inevitable. The UK is a small house stuffed with lots of people. All of us must make it work.”
The Thick of It author Armando Iannucci stated: “Tomorrow morning you’ll see the individuals who stay right here tidy these streets up. Small gangs of thugs don’t a mass motion make. You’ve been taken in by your personal platform, which amplifies noise on the expense of details.”
However such inflammatory claims have been echoed by different public figures, with actor-turned-right-wing activist Laurence Fox looking for to solid prime minister Sir Keir Starmer as a “traitor” on the aspect of “immigrant barbarians”, including in a Twitter/X put up “appreciated” almost 60,000 occasions: “Positive. Then it’s battle.”
As calls emerged for larger regulation of social media, Professor Marc Owen Jones, a disinformation researcher at Doha’s Hamad Bin Khalifa College, stated: “X has been weaponised to unfold rumours and hate speech, notably focusing on minorities, folks of a Muslim background, to inflame tensions.”
“Sadly, social media firms make all of it too simple for potential dangerous actors to arrange nameless accounts and unfold rumours,” Prof Jones advised BBC Information.
“The concept with a disinformation marketing campaign, if in case you have somebody performing in dangerous religion, they’ll unfold falsehoods after which different folks in good religion, common Joe, may choose it up as a result of they consider that individual to be credible, after which unfold it. And that’s what we’re seeing in Southport,” he stated.
Since shopping for Twitter in 2022 and rebranding it as X, Mr Musk has allowed many beforehand banned figures again onto the platform, together with Tommy Robinson, with whom Mr Musk interacted on Twitter/X as the previous EDL chief was accused of inflaming tensions within the UK from a resort in Cyprus.
Hours earlier, Sir Keir had issued a message to social media companies throughout a press convention in Downing Road, saying: “Violent dysfunction, clearly whipped up on-line, that can also be a criminal offense, it’s occurring in your premises, and the legislation should be upheld in every single place.”
Portray himself as a champion of free speech, as many customers report elevated hateful and excessive content material on Twitter/X, Mr Musk has additionally endorsed Republican candidate Donald Trump within the upcoming US elections and has spoken about eager to destroy the “woke thoughts virus”.
The Impartial has contacted Mr Musk for remark.
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