Musk is accused of fomenting British unrest

Social media has been used to spread disinformation and calls for violence among far-right groups and anti-Muslim groups following the knife attack in Southport, England.

After clashes between police and rioters in several English cities, Musk has entered the debate on X with repeated posts with the text “Civil war is inevitable”.

– Such comments cannot be justified, says a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

In the wake of Musk’s post, authorities have asked him to act responsibly.

The X owner has not provided an immediate response to a request to comment on the matter, writes Reuters

New law adopted – not entered into force

Starmer has warned the companies behind social media that violent unrest whipped up online are crimes “on their premises”. He added that there must be a balance in how the companies should be handled.

In October last year, the British passed a law on online safety, but it has not come into force yet. It gives media watchdog Ofcom the power to issue fines of up to 10 percent of global revenue to social media companies if they break the law, for example by not cracking down on content that incites violence or terror.

Ofcom is still working on drawing up guidelines for how this is to be enforced, which is not expected to happen until the beginning of next year.

Asking for speed

Now several people are asking for speed in the rollout of the new regulations. Among them are the Scottish parliamentarian Kirsty Blackman and Adam Leon Smith of the IT industry association BCS.

– There must be a tipping point, where a foreign billionaire who owns a platform must take some responsibility for managing a bot network that has become one of the most important sources of fake news and disinformation in the UK, says Smith, who wants the The new law will be implemented as soon as possible.

Director Iman Atta of the group Tell MAMA, which monitors anti-Muslim activities in the UK, also urges the Media Authority to speed up the work,

– There is a need to force the platforms to introduce more drastic measures against extremism and hate speech, she says.