Elon Musk's recent anxiety in UK politics is fueled by a series of popular accounts on his social media platform X, where the billionaire seems to be turning to for information about the scandal of fixing gangs and Sir Keir Starmer's record as a prosecutor.
An analysis of business food by the Financial Times found that Musk – whose attacks on the British prime minister and top politicians have become more painful in the past week – has expanded or responded to the X accounts that have sent widely about the treatment. of the history of sex crimes in this country.
They include Viségrad 24 – an account with more than 1.2mn followers run by British-South African Pole Stefan Tompson – social media personality Mario Nawfal, and Malaysian influencer Ian Miles Cheong, as well as several anonymous right-wing accounts allegedly based on the internet . in the UK.
The posts on the accounts Musk has joined are incriminating “British political party” to cover the scandal, and refer to it”a terrible failure” by the prosecutors, saying “He turned a blind eye to the rape of children“.
Accounts cite excerpts from Reports by British newspapers, and summarizing findings from previous inquiries on the subject, mostly without linking to the source material or providing additional context.
They also highlight independent places in a book called Easy Meat: Multiculturalism, Islam and Child Sex Slaverywithout specifying the publication. One post combined The testimony of Telford survivor Samantha Smith said she was asked by the British police if she agreed to have sex, even though she was five years old when she was first abused.
The posts appear to have prompted Musk – who has more than 211mn followers on X and has used his online pulpit to support conservative culture – to step up his attacks on Starmer and UK defense minister Jess Phillips last week, accusing them of failing. to hold the leaders of sex-grooming gangs in England to account because the perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage.
Musk's posts have pushed the grooming scandal to the top of the UK media agenda and led to renewed calls for action, with Conservative MPs trying to force a vote to hold a new inquiry. Professor Alexis Jaythe chairman of the previous research, has been drawn, saying that it would be better to implement the measures that have been suggested.
Musk, the world's richest man, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Saturday, Nawfal tweeted that Phillips had “conducted an extensive investigation into the Oldham gangs”, to which Musk replied that he was “a wicked witch”. He too he answered In a previous post, the influencer – who often jumps into important news developments and with whom Musk has been in contact for a long time – said that “cultural sensitivity” was prioritized over the pursuit of justice, calling the cover-up “unconscionable”.
Last week, Musk retweeted Nawfal nearly 40 times. The 53-year-old billionaire sent or re-sent 616 times to X in the same period, at least 225 of which were about UK politics, according to an analysis by the FT from Wednesday morning. Including replies, he posted more than 1180 times in seven days.
Musk, who spent more than $250 million supporting Donald Trump's campaign, has been staying at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago home for the past two months, where he has joined calls with world leaders and criticized national governments. Germany and Canada.
He claimed that Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions for England and Wales, “was heavily involved in mass rape to get votes”.
He also called on the King to dissolve parliament and call for new elections.
One person who contacted Musk this week said he did not rely on conversations with a UK source for his information, but chose to do his own research online. Others who were once close to the billionaire said they believe his anger was largely driven by posts from social media accounts that don't directly follow Musk, but appear in an algorithmically curated “for you” feed on X.
Questions about which people or organizations are coloring Musk in the UK government have also preoccupied other British officials.
Several believe that a small group of conservative British analysts and US-based analysts are shaping views about the UK among a wider range of Trump allies.
“There is a libertarian network of UK émigrés in the US who are feeding this very well,” said one British government official, adding that they are libertarian spokespeople linked to US think tanks that portray the image. of the UK as “uber woke”.
The officials said they included Douglas Murray, a neoconservative author who has written books about the decline of the West and “Islamophilia,” to whom Musk referred in tweets about the grooming scandal, and Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom in DC. -based Heritage Foundation.
A second UK official said the rise of Islam in the UK is another topic being pushed by influential British commentators in the US, highlighting that UK news stories last month about “Muhammad” becoming the most popular boy's name in England and Wales were widely shared. among Maga figures on X and other social media sites.
In the past week, Musk has expanded the ranks of the grooming scandal by former prime minister Liz Truss, former Labor MP Kate Hoey, ex-politician Ben Habib and people connected to broadcaster GB News. He has been promoted several times by Lupert Lowe MP, who he has recommended to replace Nigel Farage as head of the party.
But Musk also accepted posts from smaller accounts, including some supporters of right-wing activist Tommy Robinson, which Starmer said. “He has absolutely no sympathy for English workers”among other charges. None of the accounts appear to be followed by Musk.
X allows users to switch between a feed of only the accounts they follow, and an algorithmic feed, called “For You”, which shows content that matches their interests and previous work. The more Musk engages with content about the UK from the right or niche sources, the more content he will be given on his “For You” page, according to experts.
“Musk has appeared to be the first technology leader to cross the rabbit hole of radicalization with his product,” said Bruce Daisley, former head of Twitter's operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
He said TikTok, which has an algorithmically curated version of “For You”, is “designed to delight, surprise and entertain”. Meanwhile, Musk “simultaneously says 'let's send good things' and then we send tweets from Britain First and Tommy Robinson,” he added.
Dr. Jen Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, who specializes in social media and extremist views, said that the ease with which users can pay for the X subscription service, and therefore be more visible in the feed of its users, has played. a major role in the proliferation of accounts that post incorrect information.
“On the algorithmic side, I think the most important thing is the increase in blue checks,” he said, referring to X users signing up for X Premium, which is indicated by a green mark on their profiles. Changes in the X verification process by Musk meant that he could see posts from people who “share his growing ideas”, Golbeck added.
On Tuesday, Musk said he has a personal reason to be interested in the UK, posting that his British grandmother, Cora Amelia Robinson, “grew up poor in England” and was important to him as a child.
“My Nana was one of those poor working-class girls with no one to protect her who might have been kidnapped in modern Britain,” Musk said.