As their deaths shocked the nation, rumors about the attackers identity quickly spread online.
Also significant was Tommy Robinson real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon founder of the now-defunct far-right group English Defence League.
In another post, he linked the attack to Islam.
Protesters throw stones at police after disorder broke out on July 30, 2024, in Southport, England.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
By the evening of July 30, a crowd had gathered outside a mosque in Southport.
Bricks and rocks were launched at the mosque, and the so-called protest quickly turned into a riot.
A police van was torched, and dozens of officers were injured.
Reports claimed that former English Defence League members had traveled in from across the country to take part.
Over the following days, riots spread to cities around the country.
He turned out to be a 17-year-old British citizen born in Cardiff.
His parents were from Rwanda and had a Christian background, not Muslim.
But a key driver of the unrest was the platforms owner himself,Elon Musk.
It was not lost on many observers that the riots came just a few weeks into Labours new government.
As the U.S. presidential election approaches, a similar upheaval could be in store for America.
His Super PAC has beenoffering cashto supporters who identify registered voters to sign a petition.
Trump has also pledged to give him a top role in his administration.
Musk did not respond toRolling Stones requests for comment.
Jones argues that this mass unbanning served as de facto endorsement: Its like an anointment, right?
Soon, Musk also began to post about supposed tensions around immigration and perceived woke threats to western civilization.
In reality, the posts mostly highlighted isolated incidents at overwhelmingly peaceful pro-Palestinian protests.
Meanwhile, far-right groups and accounts benefited greatly from Musks attention.
Robinson would go on to falsely claim that he was detained in relation to the rally.
Heres where Musk first intervened.
Has he committed a violent crime or expressed clear intent to commit a violent crime?
He had replaced the previous blue-check identity verification system with an easily abused payment-based system.
He had disbanded Twitters trust and safety council.
And then theres the way he had molded the platform in his own image.
The conditions were all in place.
All that was required was a spark.
In this case, that spark was lit by a 55-year-old woman named Bernadette Spofforth.
His post claimed that the assailant was an immigrant, while calling for the U.K.s borders to be closed.
She alleged he was known to both mental health and security services, without citing sources.
The name al-Shakati spread across X and other platforms.
A pseudo-news account with fewer than 3,500 followers mentioned the name in an article.
Im 73 years old, Im here for the murdered children.
Musks comment merely two exclamation marks might seem insignificant.
But content that Musk interacts with receives an incomparable boost.
He recently hit 200 million followers, making him Xs most followed account.
The false claim gained 1.4 million views.
Some of the accounts Musk interacts with have dubious origins.
The U.K. riots also inspired Musk to resurface his civil war rhetoric from the previous fall.
Musk replied, Civil war is inevitable.
@Keir_Starmer, which gained nearly 70 million views.
So hes taking it mainstream, Jones says.
Musk quickly deleted his post, but not before 1.7 million people viewed it.
Most of what happened in the U.K.s week-plus of violence cant be laid at Musks door.
Right-wing tabloids and inflammatory rhetoric from politicians had been generating anti-migrant sentiment for years.
None of which bodes well for the U.S. presidential election.
His most recent innovation has been to give away $1 million to one lucky signee per day.
Meanwhile, Musk has been posting conspiracy theories about election fraud and Harris counting on undocumented immigrants to vote.
(Itsillegal for noncitizens to votein federal elections, and exceedingly rare.)
This is war, he posted in reaction to the story.
On the surface, what Musk is doing to X makes little financial sense.
It has, on the other hand, had a radicalizing effect on swathes of the population.
In terms of militant, far-right minorities, it has given them confidence, Gerbaudo says.
It has given them a sense that they are basically legitimized.
But some are suspicious of Musks hard-right turn, given his former support for the Democrats.
But one thing is guaranteed in the U.S. election, according to Galperin: Musks self-importance.
