UK government brands Elon Musk ‘deplorable’ amid race riots

LONDON — Elon Musk’s claim that race riots in the U.K. are “inevitable” is “pretty deplorable,” a government minister said Tuesday, amid a deepening feud between the U.K. administration and the tech billionaire.
Heidi Alexander, the U.K. courts minister, slammed the social media boss for a series of posts on the violent disorder gripping Britain in recent days.
Multiple towns and cities have seen far-right violence erupt in recent days, with mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers among targets. The unrest began after the killing of three young girls in a knife attack on a children’s dance class in Southport last Monday, which was followed by inaccurate claims on social media about the identity of the attacker.
Musk has come under fire from government figures after he suggested Sunday that “civil war is inevitable.”
He’s shown no signs of backing down. The X owner has also described the U.K. police response as “one-sided” and has been directly critical of Starmer’s explicit condemnation of the far-right for attacking mosques. On Tuesday, he kept up the pace, asking Starmer directly on X: “Why aren’t all communities protected in Britain?” He then branded Starmer “#twotierkeir,” an apparent reference to an idea pushed on the right that British police deal less harshly with non-white violence.
“I think Elon Musk’s comments are totally unjustifiable,” Alexander told the BBC Tuesday morning. “I think at the moment everybody should be calling for calm.”
And she added: “He does have a responsibility, given this huge platform that he has, and so to be honest I think his comments are pretty deplorable.”
Musk has also faced criticism over the spread on X of false information about the Southport attacker’s identity, and of criminal material as the riots escalated.
Asked how the government would tackle Musk’s platform, Alexander admitted there is little the government can currently do — with its Online Safety Act aimed at tackling illegal content on platforms not set to come into force until the end of the year.
“I’m not pretending this is easy,” she said. “Technology evolves almost by the day and so we will need to make sure our wider legislative framework is updated.
“But also, there’s a moral responsibility there for the social media companies themselves.”
Former Conservative government minister Rory Stewart joined the pushback Monday night, asking Musk on his platform: “Since when have you claimed to understand British communities or British politics? Exactly how many days have you spent with these communities?”
He added: “Does it ever occur to you that this might perhaps be the wrong time to sound off about a subject you know nothing about?”