Elon Musk stirs UK divisions, sparks calls for faster rollout of online safety laws

London: Elon Musk has been accused of exacerbating tensions after a week of far-right rioting in Britain, sparking calls for the government to speed up the rollout of laws policing harmful online content.

Misinformation and calls to violence have spread on social media over the past week after far-right and anti-Muslim groups seized on the fatal stabbing of three young girls in the English town of Southport.

As rioters clashed with police in some towns and cities, Musk joined the debate on his X platform, posting that civil war was "inevitable" in Britain. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said there was "no justification" for such comments.

Separately, Starmer warned social media companies that violent disorder whipped up online was a crime "on your premises", while adding there was a "balance to be struck" in handling the firms.

The official responses reflect the difficult situation the government is in.

An Online Safety Bill was passed into law in October but has yet to be implemented. It gives media regulator Ofcom the power to fine social media companies up to 10 per cent of global turnover if they are found in breach of the law, for example by failing to police content inciting violence or terrorism.

But Ofcom is still drawing up guidelines outlining how it will implement the law, with enforcement not expected until early next year. In the wake of recent violence, some are calling for the rules to be rolled out sooner.

On Wednesday, Ofcom published an open letter underlining social media companies' responsibility to protect users from harmful content, even without the Online Safety Act in force.

Director Gill Whitehead wrote: "In a few months, new safety duties under the Online Safety Act will be in place, but you can act now – there is no need to wait to make your sites and apps safer for users."

Adam Leon Smith, a fellow at industry body BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, wants Ofcom to start enforcing the Online Safety Act as soon as possible, he told Reuters.

"There must be a tipping point where a foreign billionaire platform owner has to take some responsibility for running a toxic bot network that has become one of the main sources of fake news and misinformation in the UK," he said.

Laws properly governing online safety are long overdue, said

Kirsty Blackman, an MP for the Scottish National Party.

"I would back moves for the timetable to be accelerated,” she said. "Requirements should be brought in as soon as possible, particularly for the biggest and highest-risk platforms."

An Ofcom spokesperson said: "We're moving quickly to implement the Online Safety Act so we can enforce it as soon as possible. To do this, we are required to consult on codes of practice and guidance, after which the new safety duties on platforms will become enforceable."

Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Enforcement

While those inciting violence online can be prosecuted individually, the government has no way to force social media companies to police their platforms until the Online Safety Bill comes into effect.

On Tuesday, Britain's technology minister Peter Kyle said he had met with TikTok, Meta, Google and X to emphasize their responsibility to prevent the spread of harmful content online. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Despite this, a number of posts on X actively encouraging violence and racism – seen by Reuters – remain live and have been viewed tens of thousands of times.

At the time of writing, Musk's X posts on the issue have been read by tens of millions of users, according to the site's own metrics. One post, in which he suggested Muslim communities were receiving undue police protection, had been viewed 54 million times.

While such comments themselves might not break the rules around illegal content, allowing direct calls for violence may.

"We would encourage Ofcom to speed up its work on the guidelines, so that X and other social media platforms face financial penalties if they do not remove harmful content," said Iman Atta, director of advocacy group Tell MAMA, which monitors anti-Muslim activity in Britain.

"There is a need to force platforms to take more drastic action against extremism and hate speech," she said.