‘Attention seeker’ Elon Musk courting controversy to boost X engagement – expert

Elon Musk has been accused of being an “attention seeker” and the “PR manager for the far right” who is courting controversy to drive engagement on X, the platform he owns, one expert has said.

The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX owner has escalated his spat with Sir Keir Starmer, calling him “Two-tier Keir” and criticising the Prime Minister’s response to the ongoing disorder on Britain’s streets.

Mr Musk has posted or reposted a series of images, videos and memes related to the rioting, including content that has been widely shared on right-wing accounts on the platform.

And he has been praised by right-wing activist Tommy Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – over allowing him to return to the platform, having previously been banned for breaking the site’s hate speech rules.

Outbursts

Social media expert Matt Navarra called Mr Musk the “world’s biggest attention-seeking billionaire” who was “almost incapable of controlling his outbursts, despite the detrimental impact it has on his business”.

“I think, to be honest, right now, Elon Musk is acting like the PR manager for the far right and can reasonably be put in the same class as Andrew Tate and Tommy Robinson,” he told the PA news agency.

“His words do have consequences, and his behaviour is much like a far-right ring leader, with X as his megaphone, that’s inciting racial hatred – intentionally or not.”

Mr Navarra said he believed much of Mr Musk’s current actions were all about driving more engagement to the site.

“The thing that speaks volumes to Elon is money, and also things that power his ego,” he said

“He speaks of standing up for free speech, but his actions and words are almost always self-serving and do nothing but drive attention to him and to his businesses, growing an ego that, to be honest, is already out of control.”

Mr Navarra added that the Government should consider taking action to impact the reach of the platform in order to force a response from the billionaire.

Reach

“The UK could really do with showing that its Online Safety Act has teeth and take some steps to curtail his platform’s reach drive him to make changes to the platform or to his own actions,” he said.

“It’s also worth noting that the UK is an important market for X, it’s one of the most popular social platforms in Europe and in the UK, and the impact of any actions that could be taken against the platform could be significant in terms of his wider, bigger future plans for X as a payment platform, or for anything else he wants to achieve with the platform that is already laden with debt.

“So I don’t think he wants to be stirring up too much trouble, but probably is seeing how much he can get away with.”

Pat de Brun, deputy director of tech at Amnesty International, said the algorithms at the heart of social media platforms, which he said prioritise engagement, were a key factor in the current spread of disinformation.

“In the UK, the racist violence that has spilled across the streets follows a period of intense scapegoating of refugees and migrants by politicians and others, through dangerous rhetoric and policies,” he said.

“In this context, social media algorithms have actively amplified and escalated xenophobic discourse.

“These toxic algorithms are deliberately designed to prioritise engagement above all else.

“As a result, they act as incendiaries that fuel division, disinformation and hate.”

X has not responded to any request for comment around the Southport attacks and misinformation on its platform.