Elon Musk’s Curious Fixation With Britain

In 2012, Elon Musk completed a business trip to London and Oxford. He wrote on Twitter, “Just got back… I met so many interesting people. I really like the UK!”

Fast forward to 2024, and Musk’s views on Britain are somewhat different.

“Civil war is inevitable” … “Britain is going full Stalinist” … “The British people have had enough of a brutal police state”.

These are just his recent comments on X, as he renamed the site after he bought it.

He has repeatedly clashed with politicians including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, has railed against the right and far-right online and is in talks to donate to Reform UK. According to party leader Nigel Farage.

So why has Musk’s relationship with America’s closest ally apparently soured and what, if anything, does he hope to achieve?

We would have liked to ask him himself, but he did not respond to our requests for an interview.

His X timeline offers some clues though.

The self-proclaimed “Chief Troll Officer” often exaggerates in a vague manner, unclear as to whether he is being sincere or ironic.

When he writes “Is it Great Britain or the Soviet Union?” This doesn’t really mean that Britain is a totalitarian communist state, but it does. Often he reposts content with just one word — “interesting” — or an emoji instead of going into details.

In recent years, however, Musk watchers have noticed that the kind of things he extends to his 200 million followers come from a special place: A worldview that is libertarian and “anti-Week”.Against progressives and centrists.

The shift was evident during last summer’s riots after the horrific murders of three girls at a dance class in Southport, northwest England.

False rumors about the attacker. X was circulated, including by far-right accounts that had been banned since Musk took over the company two years ago.

As protests turned violent and riots broke out, Sir Keir issued a warning: “For the big social media companies, and those who run them – violent disorder, clearly whipped up online, is also a crime.

“This is happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere.”

Musk responded with one word: “Crazy.”

Later, he would state that “civil war is inevitable” and spread a false message from the leader of a far-right party, which claimed that Sir Keir was planning to build internment camps for rioters on the Falkland Islands. Considering. By the time she deleted the post, it had been viewed more than a million times.

Musk also criticized Britain’s “prison overcrowding” on Joe Rogan’s podcast – viewed 19 million times on YouTube – saying we should “re-mythologize Orwell”, a reference to George Orwell’s dystopian society. There is a reference to the texts.

While free speech isn’t Musk’s only big issue—he also cares deeply about existential questions about the future of humanity—it’s a topic that Owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X has returned again and again.

Just a few weeks ago, in response to a tweet by a right-wing American influencer, making exaggerated claims about a recent government report on radicalisation, he commented: “What is happening in Britain? “

And he may be planning to do more than tweet. He was recently pictured with Farage and Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy, amid reports he is preparing to donate a large sum of money to the party.

Musk’s interest in UK affairs may reflect how he Your political beliefs He previously described himself as a centrist and even donated to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, but now he talks a lot about the “weak mind virus.”

According to interviews he’s given and a recent biography, the transition of one of his children from male to female — and that child, Vivian Wilson, who later cut him out of his life — appears to be a turning point.

Winston Marshall, the former Mumford & Sons guitarist podcast host and right-leaning political commentator whose father co-owns the TV channel GB News, speculates that Musk may pick fights because “ He cares deeply about Britain.”

“Britain is the birthplace of liberal democracy, with many of the great philosophies that underpin America,” says Marshall.

“So then he looks at the UK and he sees what’s been happening for years, but what’s escalating now after the August riots, a lot of people are literally longing for Facebook memes in some cases. Imprisonment has been imposed.”

“Facebook memes” seem innocuous enough but examples include – for example – a three-month prison sentence for a man who posted a meme with the caption “Let’s [expletive] A riot on a Facebook group with “riot/protest” in the name during the Southport disorder.

Some question whether the tycoon is really as committed to free speech as he claims.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate, which scrutinizes social media companies, criticized Musk’s tenure at X — prompting the tycoon to sue, accusing the organization of mishandling data and intimidating advertisers. put The case was dismissed by a US judge.

Its CEO Imran Ahmed called the incident “an indication of the mindset of a person who simply cannot understand that freedom of expression is not just for him but for everyone”.

Other critics have pointed out that Musk has been careful not to criticize the president of China, a country where Tesla has major business interests, despite Beijing’s well-documented culture of censorship.

The stakes are lower in terms of business in the UK, but the country can still affect its bottom line. The Online Safety Act, 2023 was passed by Parliament at the end of 2023.. It will allow regulator Ofcom to issue heavy fines to social media companies if certain types of illegal content are found on their platforms.

Andrew Chadwick, professor of political communication at Loughborough University, points out that while some of the provisions in the bill are uncontroversial, “where it gets a bit more difficult is where the illegal content blurs into what we call the kind of misinformation or disinformation. Can say. See it circulating on social media platforms on a daily basis”.

They say it could include “racially or religiously aggravated public order crimes or inciting violence”.

The Act comes with some potentially hefty penalties – fines of up to 10% of eligible worldwide income.

Could it be that Musk is concerned about the UK cutting off a share of X’s revenue – or even, as the Act allows access to the site in the UK to be blocked in certain circumstances?

Defenders of the act argue that it has nothing to do with censoring free speech. Gwen Towler, former head of press at Reform UK, says that while Musk “may not have forensic knowledge of all the details of the backbench committee” he “sees the big picture” – which Reform activists and others see as a tangle of censorship. Described as culture. .

“You don’t always have to focus on the trees. And I think Musk sees the forest very well,” he adds.

No one can read the mind of the richest man in the world.

But it’s clear that Musk has used his vast wealth for influence and is now exporting his values ​​around the world – including America’s free speech and largely unfettered mainstream capitalism. I am included.

And one thing is for sure – it’s not done with the UK yet.