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Elon Musk's misinformation machine made the horrors of Southport much worse
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/67463/elon-musks-misinformation-machine-made-the-horrors-of-southport-much-worseThe X owner’s commitment to free speech absolutism contributed to a whirlwind of false reporting around the perpetrator’s identity. Why does he seem to care so little about the truth?
By Alan Rusbridger
It’s unlikely that Elon Musk has ever heard of Southport, far less visited it. He has five or six companies to run, after all, and has been busy this week sounding off about Venezuela, Kamala Harris, puberty blockers and why the legacy media lie to you.
So it’s probable that some ugly riots in a seaside town somewhere in northwest England will not have registered with the strange genius who may well be the richest man in the world.
And it’s equally probable that, if you told Musk that he was in was in some way responsible for these riots, 5,000 miles away from the seven homes he owns/owned in California, he would scoff.
But that’s how it is. When Musk decided to splash out $44bn to buy what was then called Twitter, he took ultimate responsibility for the speech of 350m-odd users of the platform. And Twitter—now called X—is where a foul virus spread in the wake of the horrendous stabbings of numerous children in Southport on Monday. That virus led to the rioting the very next day—and since. And Musk enabled it.
So it’s probable that some ugly riots in a seaside town somewhere in northwest England will not have registered with the strange genius who may well be the richest man in the world.
And it’s equally probable that, if you told Musk that he was in was in some way responsible for these riots, 5,000 miles away from the seven homes he owns/owned in California, he would scoff.
But that’s how it is. When Musk decided to splash out $44bn to buy what was then called Twitter, he took ultimate responsibility for the speech of 350m-odd users of the platform. And Twitter—now called X—is where a foul virus spread in the wake of the horrendous stabbings of numerous children in Southport on Monday. That virus led to the rioting the very next day—and since. And Musk enabled it.
On edit: I had a network hiccup, 🛜 so two duplicate posts were deleted. One is enough.