He might be the world’s richest man, but he is still just a man
Musk has crossed the Rubicon, and the Government should make that clear during times of civil unrest. It was one of the concerns raised at the time of the 2011 London riots and the 6 January insurrection on the US Capitol. It’s blamed for long-running problems like political polarisation, vaccine misinformation and more.
That familiarity can make us miss something fundamental, though. In this instance, it seems that the owner of one of the major social networks may have played a role in fanning the flames of the unrest. The question is not so much, “What could he do to stop it”, as, “What could the Government do to stop him”?, who bought Twitter for $44bn and renamed it “X”.
Accounts from across the world that had been banned for breaking X’s “abuse and hate” rules were reinstated. In the UK, this included the accounts ofin recent months, has directly involved himself in the UK’s febrile political situation. Because of his huge 192 million following, a reply from Musk vastly boosts any tweet to which he is responding.
To call this uncharted territory is the understatement of the century. The world’s richest man has bought what is still by far the most important real-time social network for news. He is not just failing to act over the far right using his site to mobilise and to radicalise one another – he is actively participating in discussions around the present unrest.by this admittedly unprecedented occurrence.
Traditionally, the next step for a delinquent social network might be to check its compliance with legal obligations and issue fines, or some other sanction. Some are calling for more radical actions like shutting down X in the UK – but this risks backfiring, as well as being outright wrong. Shutting down the legitimateMusk has crossed the Rubicon, and the Government should make that clear. If he is fanning domestic unrest, we have laws relating to that and powers allowing it to take action.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The ‘civil war’ riots row between Starmer and Elon Musk explainedTech billionaire Elon Musk has criticised the UK Prime Minister repeatedly on his X social media platform
Read more »
Elon Musk slammed by Labour minister for claiming ‘civil war is inevitable’The tech billionaire has faced a backlash following his comments on disorder in some English towns and cities.
Read more »
'Pretty Deplorable': Minister Condemns Elon Musk's Comments On UK RiotsKevin Schofield is Politics Editor of HuffPost UK.
Read more »
Politics latest: Minister hits back at Elon Musk over UK riots - after PM and billionaire clashThe government insists the courts system has capacity to deal with the influx of people appearing in court following arrests - but those involved in the criminal justice system have raised concerns. A minister has continued the war of words with Elon Musk over the riots.
Read more »
UK riots latest: Elon Musk clashes with Starmer over claims 'civil war is inevitable'A masked protester approached the Sky News reporter during a live report.
Read more »
Elon Musk is suing OpenAI again, claims CEO Sam Altman ‘betrayed’ himThese two are going through a really, really bad breakup
Read more »