\n
![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/GettyImages-2162683763-e1723028417908.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
Twitter\u2019s formerly highest-ranking European executive accused the platform\u2019s owner Elon Musk of being a \u201cpretty toxic user\u201d who is directly contributing to the racist violence currently spreading across the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
Musk has used his own personal account on X to stoke tensions in dozens of white, working-class areas of England and Northern Ireland that have erupted in UK race riots for seven straight nights following an unrelated tragedy. <\/p>\n
The police are bracing for more rioting tonight.<\/p>\n
The anger has mainly targeted the Muslim and immigrant communities after false accusations were disseminated on social media platforms like X. Musk\u2014who is not an expert on the UK\u2014 began his intervention on August 4 by tweeting, \u201cCivil war is inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCivil war is inevitable<\/p>\n
\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 4, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cElon Musk is playing a pretty pivotal role, and it\u2019s why it\u2019s such a challenge to try and prohibit or to regulate what he\u2019s actually doing right now,\u201d Daisley said in comments\u00a0quoted<\/a>\u00a0by the\u00a0BBC<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Riots broke out after the Southport community near Liverpool was devastated by the\u00a0fatal stabbing<\/a>\u00a0of three young girls. The perpetrator, born in Wales to Rwandan parents, is believed to be a Christian. His alleged motive for the attack has not been described by police. Online, among far-right accounts, a rumor initially blamed a fictitious Muslim immigrant.<\/p>\n
Towns across the country\u2019s industrial midlands have since been plagued by violence mainly from white working-class Brits heeding the call to arms spread by Tommy Robinson, founder of the Islamophobic far-right English Defense League.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Musk, added Daisley, is \u201clargely responsible for bringing Tommy Robinson back onto Twitter, and then as a user of the platform, amplifying [Robinson\u2019s] voice to the extent that he has gone from really the bargain basement of politics to being one of the biggest names orchestrating potentially this ongoing racial conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attempts by UK prime minister Keir Starmer to assuage British Muslims fearful of pogrom-like reprisals were attacked by Musk. The Tesla<\/a> CEO accused Starmer, of policing ethnic white English citizens more harshly than immigrant people of color, calling the former crown chief prosecutor \u201c#TwoTierKier\u201d, a reference to the populist narrative of\u00a0two-tier policing<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n#TwoTierKeir<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Downing Street in return blasted Musk\u2019s prediction that \u201ccivil war is inevitable\u201d, saying there was \u201cno justification<\/a>\u201d for such incendiary claims.<\/p>\n
Calls to shut down X<\/h2>\n
Musk\u2019s activism has sparked calls\u2014including from human rights lawyer Jessica Simor\u2014to shut the platform down before it does\u00a0serious harm<\/a>\u00a0to the country\u2019s social fabric.<\/p>\n
The UK\u2019s Brexit referendum vote to leave the European Union, held in 2016 months before Trump\u2019s election, coincided with increased nativist English resentment against immigration in white working-class areas of the North, like\u00a0Sunderland<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Daisley called for the UK to bring the\u00a0Online Safety Act<\/a>, the culmination of six years\u2019 legislative work, into force sooner than the second half of next year. That way authorities would have a legal instrument in place to punish platforms like X that fan the flames of ethnic hatred.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf companies don\u2019t comply, there is the potential for senior leaders of the organizations to be held criminally responsible themselves,\u201d said Daisley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ex-Twitter Europe exec left the company in 2020, well before Musk acquired the company and turned it into what it is today.\u00a0Fortune<\/em>\u00a0reached out to the ex-manager to seek further comment.<\/p>\n
Musk is an activist often wooed by the world\u2019s leaders<\/h2>\n
First off, it\u2019s not unusual for Musk to intervene in international politics, since he maintains business interests around the world. He is also a frequent and welcome guest of statesmen including former UK prime minister\u00a0Rishi Sunak<\/a> and French president Emmanuel Macron, many of whom would jump at the chance<\/a> to win pledges for a new factory<\/a> that generates jobs and taxes.<\/p>\n
He has however taken flak for pushing a\u00a0peace plan<\/a>\u00a0for Ukraine favorable to the Kremlin and\u00a0likening Taiwan to China\u2019s version<\/a>\u00a0of Hawaii rather than an island nation in its own right.<\/p>\n
Musk also maintains close political ties abroad with arch-conservatives and autocrats such as the government of Hungary\u2019s\u00a0Victor Orban<\/a>, a darling of Fox<\/a> News who runs the only foreign\u00a0CPAC convention<\/a>, as well as Italy\u2019s\u00a0Giorgia Meloni<\/a>, whose party has its roots in Mussolini\u2019s fascist past.<\/p>\n
He is also close with Israel\u2019s Benjamin Netanyahu, attending as a personal guest the latter\u2019s speech before Congress last month where he had plenty of time to\u00a0talk UK politics<\/a>\u00a0standing right next to British conservative commentator Douglas Murray.<\/p>\n
What is motivating Elon Musk?<\/h2>\n
His stated motivation behind his political activism is to \u201cdestroy the woke mind virus<\/a>\u201d he believes is the cause behind his transgender child disowning him and what he views is an increasingly anti-meritocratic system unfairly helping marginalized communities and immigrants at the expense of native populations. He argues it is propped up by anti-libertarian establishment with the help of the corporate media and Big Tech.<\/p>\n
But his motivations to stoke divisions and fan the flames of ethnic and religious tensions could be financial in nature as well.<\/p>\n
X\u2019s financial woes motivate Musk\u2019s need for engagement<\/h2>\n
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, the bulk of which came out of his own pocket with another $13 billion in\u00a0high-interest loans<\/a>.<\/p>\n
With the two year anniversary of the deal now weeks away, X chief technology officer Musk has\u00a0not yet delivered<\/a>\u00a0on his promise for a financial payments system that is crucial to its future. His attempt to\u00a0poach Twitch viewers<\/a>\u00a0never\u00a0got anywhere<\/a>, either, with obvious candidates like streamer\u00a0Adin Ross<\/a>\u00a0preferring to use Kick rather than X.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, advertisers have\u00a0shunned the platform<\/a>. Fund managers like Fidelity have been forced to\u00a0slash drastically the estimated value<\/a>\u00a0of their investment in X.<\/p>\n
As such, Musk has been using his own personal account, the most-followed on X, to drive engagement with an almost continuous stream of doom porn that appeals to his newfound anti-establishment users.<\/p>\n
Recently he predicted America is\u00a0headed for bankruptcy<\/a>, saying it\u2019s in danger of becoming the\u00a0next Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0if Trump is not elected. He also claimed the U.S. dollar is on the verge of Zimbabwe-style\u00a0hyperinflation<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Spreading deepfakes and misinformation<\/h2>\n
When it comes to distributing information as events occur in real-time, X is still the leading digital platform. It received praise for users for its blinding speed covering the Yevgeny Prigozhin coup attempt in June 2023. But its scattershot attempt to leave the policing of content to a select group of crowdsourced superusers has yielded at best mixed results.<\/p>\n
The problem is someone like Musk both owns the platform and decides on its core policies, including the\u00a0recommendation algorithm<\/a>. He is, moreover,\u00a0spreading<\/a>\u00a0the AI deepfakes and disinformation to his massive following of 193 million followers himself in order to peel eyeballs away from other media outlets and\u00a0direct them to his platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The EU is watching Musk and X closely. It has launched infringement proceedings into X, TikTok and Facebook<\/a> owner Meta for failing to comply with parts of the Digital Services Act.<\/p>\n
A European Commission spokesperson told Fortune it does not comment on individual tweets or accounts, but that it was prepared to take action in the EU \u201cin case of a serious threat to public safety and security stemming from an online platform\u2019s services.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows the Commission to request actions from platforms and be more transparent about the measures they are taking to mitigate any contribution to the threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cX has now the right of defence,\u201d Internal Markets Commissioner Thierry Breton said\u00a0last month<\/a>, \u201cbut if our view is confirmed, we will impose fines and require significant changes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Recommended Newsletter:<\/strong> The Fortune Next to Lead newsletter is a must-read for the next generation of C-suite leaders. Every Monday, the newsletter provides the strategies, resources, and expert insight needed to claim the most coveted positions in business. Subscribe now<\/a>.<\/div>\n