It didn’t end well for Musk…
The billionaire owner of X, formerly Twitter, has been left humiliated after his latest attempt to portray himself as a defender of free speech spectacularly backfired.
Musk has in recent weeks been accused of fanning the flames of division, after claiming that the UK was ‘headed for civil war’ after scenes of far-right violence and thuggery in towns and cities across the UK following the horrific murder of three young girls in Southport.
The riots occurred after misinformation was shared on social media, including on X, accusing the perpetrator of the mass stabbing in Southport of having been a Muslim asylum seeker. Three young girls were killed in the attack which took place during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. Eight other children suffered stab wounds and at least two were in a critical condition, alongside two adults.
In the wake of the attack, rioting broke out in Southport, with a mosque attacked, resulting in 27 police officers being taken to hospital. Police have said they believe the men involved are part of the far-right English Defence League.
Within hours of the horrific attack, the far-right were spreading misinformation about the identity of the attacker, claiming that he had arrived in the UK via a small boat with a number of far-right social media accounts claiming that the attacker was Muslim, a migrant, refugee or foreigner.
The attacker was named as Cardiff born Axel Rudakubana.
In the days that followed, Musk was involved in a public spat with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Musk even shared a fake news story which claimed to be from the Telegraph and claimed that the PM was considering building ’emergency detainment camps’ on the Falkland Islands to house rioters involved in recent uprisings.
A cursory Google search for the headline would have quickly proved that it isn’t real, while The Telegraph has since confirmed it did not publish such an article.
So when Musk put out a tweet on X portraying himself as a defender of free speech it didn’t go down well.
Musk posted: “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.”
The Thick Of It creator, Armando Iannucci, quoted Musk’s post and wrote: “Agreed, truth shouldn’t be suppressed. Which is why it’s best not to dump it in a landfill site, pour over it a slurry of half-truths, misinformation, insults, blatant lies, random speculation and conspiracy, and then above that stinking mess type the word ‘True.’
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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