While many of Mr. Musk's writings, particularly those about gangs, originate in an ecosystem of far-right bloggers and activists, they also tempt mainstream politicians to use them against their opponents. And they appeal to editors and broadcasters looking for a good story.
David Yelland, a former editor of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid, said: “The British press and broadcasters have fallen to some extent to promote Elon Musk.” “They did it in the press because they were extremely hostile to Keir Starmer. It's the old Fleet Street bias.”
Claire Enders, a London-based media researcher and founder of Enders Analysis, likened Mr Musk to Mr Murdoch, the insurgent media baron from Australia who upended London's newspaper industry in the 1970s. “We just have a new Murdoch,” he said. “He's an American, a multi-billionaire, and close to Trump.”
And Mr. Musk is less interested in taking over the British press than in discrediting it. She claims the news media is complicit in covering up violence against young girls. The truth is that British newspapers across the political spectrum covered these crimes vigorously, if not immediately, as the scale of the abuses became clear in the late 2000s and early 2010s. “The Times” of London a a major investigation into the scandaland the slow police response to it in 2011.
“It was on the front page of every newspaper and led the 6 o'clock news for years,” said Raheem Kassam, who covered the scandal as editor of the British outpost of the right-wing news outlet Breitbart News. “The idea that we need a media blackout and Elon Musk to bring this to light is nonsense.”