Social media has played a big role in fueling the anti-immigration riots engulfing towns and cities in the United Kingdom.
And agitator-in-chief Elon Musk is not sitting on the sidelines.
The Tesla chief executive and owner of X posted to the platform Sunday that “civil war is inevitable” in response to a post blaming the violent demonstrations on the effects of “mass migration and open borders.”
On Monday, a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer addressed Musk’s comment, telling reporters “there’s no justification for that.”
But Musk is digging his heels in. On Tuesday, he labeled Starmer #TwoTierKier in an apparent reference to a debunked claim spread by conspiracy theorists and populist politicians such as Nigel Farage that “two-tier policing” means right-wing protests are dealt with more forcefully than those organized by the left. He also likened Britain to the Soviet Union for attempting to restrict offensive speech on social media.
Musk’s decision to amplify the anti-immigrant rhetoric highlights the role that false information spread online is playing in fomenting real-world violence — an issue of growing concern to the UK government, which vowed Tuesday to bring those responsible for the riots, as well as their online cheerleaders, to justice.
