Elon Musk’s recent obsession with British politics has been fueled by a series of popular accounts on his social media platform It seems like you are looking for information about.
A Financial Times analysis of the entrepreneur’s feed found that Musk – whose attacks on the British prime minister and senior politicians have become more scathing in the past week – posted extensively about the treatment in a small number of It turns out that the account was amplified or reacted to it. Historical sexual crimes in this country.
Among them are Visegrad 24, an account with more than 1.2 million followers run by British-born South African pollster Stephen Thompson, social media personality Mario Naufal, and Malaysian influencer Ian. Includes Miles Chong and several less popular right-leaning accounts said to be based in Malaysia. England.
Posts from the accounts Musk has been associated with blamed “British political elites” for covering up the scandal, cited “horrible failures” by prosecutors, and accused prosecutors of “turning a blind eye to child rape.” “I was,” he claimed.
The report cited snippets of British newspaper reporting and summarized findings from previous research on the issue, mostly without linking to sources or providing further context.
They also highlighted an isolated passage in the book Easy Meat: Multiculturalism, Islam And Child Sex Slavery, although they did not name the publication. One post linked to the testimony of Telford survivor Samantha Smith, who was asked by British police if she consented to sexual acts despite being five years old when she was first abused. That’s what it means.
These posts prompted Mr Musk (who has more than 211 million followers on They appear to have encouraged them to step up their attacks on Jess Phillips, which they claim have failed. The leader of a British sexual grooming gang will be held accountable because the perpetrator was of Pakistani descent.
Mr Musk’s post propelled the grooming scandal to the top of the news agenda in Britain and renewed calls for action, with Conservative MPs attempting to force a vote on whether to hold a new inquiry. Professor Alexis Jay, chair of the first inquiry, has been drawn in, saying it would be better to implement the measures already recommended.
Musk, the world’s richest man, did not respond to requests for comment.
On Saturday, Naufal posted that Phillips had “dropped a wide-ranging investigation into the Oldham rape gang”, to which Musk called her an “evil witch”. He also frequently jumped on important news developments and earlier posts by the influencer, who has a long association with Musk, claimed that “cultural sensitivities” were prioritized over the pursuit of justice. He also responded, calling the allegation of a cover-up “unconscionable.”
In the past week, Musk has reposted Naufal nearly 40 times. As of Wednesday morning, the 53-year-old billionaire had posted or reposted to X 616 times during the same period, at least 225 of which were about British politics, according to FT analysis. Including replies, it was posted more than 1,180 times in seven days.
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Musk, who has spent more than $250 million supporting Donald Trump’s campaign, has spent the past two months staying almost constantly at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago home, where he has hosted world leaders. He has participated in telephone talks with other countries and criticized governments around the world. Germany and Canada.
He claimed Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions for England and Wales, was “deeply complicit in gang rape in exchange for votes”.
He also called on the king to dissolve parliament and hold new elections.
A person who interacted with Mr. Musk this week said he did not rely on conversations with British sources for information, preferring to do his own research online. People once close to the billionaire say the main source of Musk’s anger is that even though he doesn’t follow them directly, they appear on his algorithmically curated “for you” feed on X. He said he believed the incident was caused by a post from a social media account.
Questions about which individuals and organizations influence Musk’s views on the British government are also of interest to some British officials.
Some believe that a small number of conservative-leaning British commentators and analysts based in the United States are forming their views about Britain in the broader context of President Trump’s allies.
“There’s a very right-wing, liberal British immigration network in the United States, and they’re providing a lot of this information,” said one British government official, who is a defender of free speech. , added that it has ties to right-wing U.S. think tanks projecting an image. In the UK it’s called an “uber wake”.
Officials said these included Douglas Murray, a neo-conservative author who has written books on Western decline and “Islamophilia” (mentioned by Musk in a tweet about the grooming scandal), and Margaret Murray, a Washington, D.C., author who has written books about Western decline and “Islamophilia”. This includes Niall Gardiner, director of the Thatcher Freedom Center. Heritage Foundation based in .
A second British official said the growth of Islam in the UK was another key theme promoted by influential UK commentators based in the US, adding that British media reported last month that “Muhammad” ” became the most popular boy’s name in England and Wales, among Maga’s figures on X and other social media sites, who highlighted a widely shared article.
Mr Musk also increased his posts in the past week about grooming scandals involving former prime minister Liz Truss, former Labor MP Kate Hoey, former Reform politician Ben Habib and broadcaster GB News. He strengthened several positions for Reform MP Rupert Lowe, who had suggested he should replace Nigel Farage as party leader.
But Mr Musk also endorsed postings from smaller accounts, including some supporters of far-right figure Tommy Robinson, who said Mr Starmer had “no sympathy whatsoever for the British working class”. There are also claims such as “I do not have a strong understanding of this.” 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” that shows content that may match their interests and previous activity. Masu. Experts say the more Musk engages with content about Britain from far-right and niche sources, the more similar content will be provided to his For You page.
“Musk appears to be the first technology leader to fall down the rabbit hole of radicalization due to his product,” said Bruce Daisley, Twitter’s head of operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. .
He said TikTok also has an algorithmically curated “For You” page that is “much more optimized for fun, surprise and entertainment.” Musk, on the other hand, added: “At the same time, he’s saying, ‘Let’s post more positive things,’ and then he’s retweeting the extremists of Britain First and Tommy Robinson.”
Jen Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, who specializes in social media and extremism, says users can easily pay for X’s subscription service, which in turn makes it more visible in users’ feeds. He said that being introduced has had an impact. It plays a big role in amplifying accounts that post inaccurate information.
“Algorithm-wise, I think the really important feature is the increase in blue checks,” she said, referring to X users who have a subscription to X Premium, indicated by a blue checkmark on their profile. Golbeck added that Musk’s changes to the X verification process mean he is more likely to see posts from people who “share an increasingly radical ideology.”
Musk said on Tuesday that his interest in Britain had personal reasons, saying that his British grandmother, Cora Amelia Robinson, “grew up very poor in England” and that he was drawn to Britain as a child. He posted that he was an important person.
“My Nana was one of those poor working-class girls who could have been kidnapped in Britain today, with no one to protect her,” Musk claimed.
