'Civil War Inevitable' Musk Statement Refuted by UK... Conflict Over SNS Responsibility Expected to Continue

"Civil war is inevitable." This is a post by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X (formerly Twitter), regarding the escalating far-right violent protests in the UK. As social networking services (SNS), including X, are being pointed out as a background factor for the rapid deterioration of the situation, the UK Prime Minister's Office immediately criticized CEO Musk. In particular, they warned that anyone inciting such violence, both online and offline, could face imprisonment, signaling an intensification of the conflict between both sides over SNS accountability issues.

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

According to the daily newspaper The Guardian and others on the 5th (local time), CEO Musk posted "Civil war is inevitable" on his X account the day before. The following day, he quoted a statement from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said, "We will not tolerate attacks on mosques and Muslim communities," and criticized again, asking, "Shouldn't we be worried about attacks on 'all' communities?" Musk had previously claimed multiple times that civil wars would break out in Europe as well.

The UK Prime Minister's Office immediately reacted against Musk's civil war remarks. Dave Pearce, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Starmer, said in a statement that day, "There is no justification for such remarks," and dismissed them by saying, "What we are seeing in this country is organized violence, which has no place on the streets or online." He also rebutted, "Anyone who incites violence online will face the full force of the law."

As SNS incitement is pointed out as a background for the worsening situation, CEO Musk, owner of X, was strongly criticized for making irresponsible remarks that could encourage violence. Local media noted that Musk is contributing to the spread of inflammatory content related to the protests by endorsing online content. Among the content he shared was a riot video posted by Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist in the UK. However, even after the Prime Minister's Office's strong statements, Musk continues to criticize the UK government on his X account. The Guardian reported, "The owner of X (Musk) again criticized Prime Minister Starmer that night," adding, "He is spreading inflammatory posts about violence by commenting or adding exclamation marks."

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

In the UK, far-right violent protests have spread since the end of last month after a perpetrator broke into a children's dance class near Southport, Liverpool, wielding a weapon and killing three children. Earlier, baseless posts circulated on SNS claiming that the perpetrator was an Islamic immigrant named ‘Ali Alshakaty’ and that he shouted ‘Allahu Akbar (God is great)’ before the crime, triggering far-right violent protests opposing Islam and immigration. Although all of this was false information, despite official verification, looting, arson, attacks, and assaults on police by protesters have continued in various places. According to the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), 378 people have been arrested so far in connection with the incident.

In particular, posts shared on SNS by far-right figures during this process have been evaluated as fuel that incited violent protests triggered by false information. Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist who reposted content shared by Musk, is a representative figure. Robinson, co-founder of the far-right group English Defence League (EDL), is identified as a key figure behind the incident. Twitter had previously suspended Robinson's account, but after Musk acquired Twitter, he restored it and maintained contact with him.

The UK government has currently announced strict crackdowns on inflammatory content spread on SNS. After an emergency security meeting, Prime Minister Starmer said, "If it incites violence, it does not matter whether it is online or offline," warning that inflammatory posts on SNS could also be subject to arrest and prosecution. Peter Kyle, Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, met separately with executives from X, YouTube, Meta Platforms, Google, and TikTok to demand related responses.

However, the clash between CEO Musk and the UK Prime Minister's Office is expected to undermine the government's efforts to prevent the spread of such inflammatory violent posts on SNS. Sky News assessed, "It could threaten the UK government's efforts to hold SNS companies more accountable for deleting harmful content that incites violence." Politico Europe reported, "The UK government continues to demand that SNS companies make more efforts to delete criminal posts and take responsibility," but added, "It is unclear whether there are tools to enforce this." Newsweek reported that despite the UK Prime Minister's Office's warning to take a tough stance both online and offline, Musk's civil war posts, which are not subject to UK law, cannot be legally prosecuted.