Clashes broke out in the Northern Irish capital after a brutal knife attack on Monday, with police charging a Sudanese national named Hadi Alodid with attempted murder.
Musk amplified calls for protest across Britain from anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson and wrote to his 240 million followers on X: “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change.”
Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – was formerly banned from X.
His account was reinstated – along with several other influencers accused of peddling misinformation or hate speech – following Musk’s 2022 acquisition of the platform, previously known as Twitter.
He also boosted anti-immigration posts and messages from Rupert Lowe, leader of the far-right party Restore Britain, extending his reach to millions of users on the platform.
Researchers from the nonprofit tech watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) reported on Friday that the trio’s posts about Belfast collectively garnered more than 115 million views across their accounts, with Musk accounting for 55 percent of the total.
“Musk’s amplification has been instrumental,” contributing 64 million views, CCDH said in a report.
“As the owner of X and its most followed user, Musk has unparalleled power to shape what people see online. With that power comes responsibility for the content and conduct his platform promotes,” said Imran Ahmed, CCDH’s founder and chief executive.
“While communities dealt with the consequences of brutality and disorder, no individual played a bigger role in spreading this content on X than Musk himself,” Ahmed added.
CCDH said it identified an “explosion in calls for violence” in the responses to the trio’s posts about the Belfast unrest, with more than 3,900 comments advocating lynchings and other crimes against immigrants.
Earlier this week, Musk also reposted other messages claiming that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “hates white people,” and another sharing an image of the stabbing suspect, who is Black, alongside the caption declaring “millions must go.”
Musk has long used his social media platform to wade into British and European politics and denounce the continent’s immigration policies. (Agencies)
