Elon Musk, on the verge of becoming the world’s first trillionaire, is whipping up anti-immigration tensions amid ongoing riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Following a knife attack in the city on Monday, Musk declared support for Restore Britain, a hard-right populist political party that advocates for large-scale migrant deportation in the UK. He reposted statements from party leader Rupert Lowe calling for “a vast number of people” to be forced out of the country, as well as a promise from Lowe to “prosecute officials and politicians who knowingly placed dangerous third world savages in our communities.” “This is the way,” Musk added to his repost.
Musk also shared a list of protest locations in the city, saying, “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!”
The suspected attacker is a Sudanese refugee legally residing in the UK, according to The New York Times. Videos of the attack circulated on social media, including on X. In response, rioters gathered on the streets of Belfast, setting vehicles and homes ablaze, mostly in immigrant communities. The Irish News reports that rioters also threw bricks, glass bottles, and wood at police on Wednesday, who responded by firing water cannons. That day, Musk reposted an X post mocking the notion that “You can’t solve problems with violence.”
Musk, who has long used his X account to espouse white supremacist rhetoric and antisemitic conspiracy theories, is posting a wave of anti-immigrant content as his company SpaceX prepares for its stock market debut later this week. (“The actions and statements of Mr. Musk,” which “frequently receive an immense amount of media attention,” are listed as a risk factor in SpaceX’s IPO filings.) In addition to his comments on Belfast, he used his X account to call for two Iraqi suspects in a German rape trial to be executed and responded to another X user’s post reading “you can’t teach savages not to rape” with “Murderous migrants must go.”
Musk also replied to a post containing an image of the knife attack and a caption that called for politicians to face “consequences” for allowing “this to flow into Europe.” In response, Musk said
“Yes, and that day cannot come soon enough.” The posts from Lowe endorsed large-scale deportation, saying that “Millions and millions need to leave or be made to leave.” This isn’t the first time Musk has inserted himself into anti-immigrant protests abroad. Last year, Musk appeared virtually at a far-right rally in London, saying the UK needs “revolutionary government change.” He’s previously expressed fears that white people will go “extinct.”
In a statement on X, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the violence in Belfast and acknowledged the role played by social media. “There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere.”
Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, also warned online platforms that they have an obligation to take down illegal content under the Online Safety Act. “Following a serious knife attack that took place in Belfast on Monday night, we have seen civil unrest in the city, some of which appears to have been incited online,” Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom’s group director for online safety, writes. “This has included racially motivated incidents of violence, arson attacks on homes and vehicles, and attacks against police.”
Musk responded to accusations that he’s contributing to unrest, saying, “Murderous migrants beheading innocent people in their home town is what’s making people angry, not ‘social media’!”