Topline
Elon Musk on Thursday boosted a fake news headline first shared by the leader of a far-right fringe group in the United Kingdom about “detainment camps” for arrested British rioters to his 193 million followers on X—before deleting it—as he continues to criticize U.K. leaders over their crackdown on far-right groups as violent race riots grip the country.
Elon Musk at the Cannes Lions International Festival on June 19, 2024.
Key Facts
Musk, who purchased Twitter in 2022 before renaming it X, shared an image posted by Ashlea Simon, co-leader of far-right party Britain First, that showed a fake headline from the Telegraph newspaper claiming “[British Prime Minister] Keir Starmer considering building ’emergency detainment camps’ on the Falkland Islands.”
The photo also showed a preview, also fake, that read, “The camps would be used to detain prisoners from the ongoing riots as the British prison system is already at capacity.”
The Telegraph confirmed “no such article has ever been published” by the newspaper, and a an X community note clarification was added to Simon’s initial tweet, reporting it as fake, before her post was also taken down.
Musk’s re-share of the post was up for at least 30 minutes, and viewed by almost 2 million people, before he deleted it.
The re-sharing of the fake news by Musk comes after he has harshly criticized the U.K. government amid anti-immigration and race riots, accusing police response to the violence of being “one sided” and claiming “ civil war is inevitable” in Britain.
Starmer said there was ” no justification” for his claims, but Musk has only doubled down, accusing British police of more heavily responding to far-right groups than others, labeling the prime minister as “ two-tier Keir” and calling director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson “ The Woke Stasi.”
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Key Background
Britain has been in turmoil since three young girls were fatally stabbed in Southport, England in late July. The girls, aged 6 to 9, were killed in a knife attack. The same day, police arrested a 17-year-old from a village nearby. Before the suspect’s identity was confirmed, social media posts began falsely claiming he was a Muslim asylum seeker. Following a vigil for the victims, protestors threw bricks and bottles at a local mosque and a police van was set on fire. Members of the far-right have since gathered for large-scale riots across the country, shouting anti-immigration and Islamophobic messages. Counter-protests have also broken out, leading to clashes between the two groups. Hundreds of people have been arrested. In addition to charging those involved with the violence, Parkinson recently said that those who share material that is “intended to or likely to start racial hatred” on social media could also face charges.
Tangent
The spread of misinformation on X has been a topic of discussion since Musk—who describes himself as a “free speech absolutist”—first took over. When he bought the platform, he said he was looking to create a space where “a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner.” But that seeming lack of oversight has led to a website where false claims run rampant. Last year, the European Union said X had the largest prevalence of fake news and disinformation among any social media platform. Fake news posts or those sharing blatantly false information are common on X, the EU said, and those posts are quickly able to find an audience and spread faster than they do on other platforms. X is under investigation by the EU for its handling of violent content and disinformation about the war between Israel and Hamas. In addition to allowing fake information shared by everyday users to spread, Musk uses his wide-reaching account to share his conservative views on domestic and international news. A study released in July showed that X has become more popular with conservatives since Musk took over and the billionaire has created space for right-leaning politicians and leaders to reach larger audiences.
Forbes Valuation
Musk is the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $218.7 billion as of Thursday. He has co-founded several companies, including electric car maker Tesla and rocket producer SpaceX, and has owned the social media platform since 2022.
Further Reading
Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes reporter who covers breaking news with a frequent focus on the entertainment industry, streaming, sports news, publishing, pop culture and climate change. She joined Forbes in 2023 and lives in Dallas. She’s covered Netflix’s hottest documentaries, a surge of assaults reported on social media, the most popular books of the year and how climate change stands to impact the way we eat. Roeloffs was included on Editor & Publisher Magazine’s “ 25 Under 30” list in 2023 and worked covering local news in the greater Boston area from 2017 to 2023. She graduated with a double major in political science and journalism from Northeastern University. Follow Roeloffs for continued coverage of streaming wars, pop culture news and trending topics.
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