Elon Musk Has Not Suspended The U.K. Government Account On X
The Claim
The UK Government account has been suspended for threatening twitter users.
News posted on
Emerging story
Following the clashes between X’s owner, the billionaire Elon Musk, and the U.K. government, social media users claimed that Musk has suspended the official U.K. account for threatening the people of Britain, sharing an account named, “@ukgov.”
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the viral claim and found it to be fake.
The U.K. Government Account Was Not Suspended
The X account mentioned in the viral claim is not the U.K.’s government account but an account holding a username of @ukgov that is similar to the username of the account of the U.K. government.
The account in question was already suspended in June 2021, years before the riots in Britain, the clashes between Elon Musk and the government of the U.K., and a year before Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter.
Meanwhile, the U.K. government account, which holds the username of @GOVUK, is still on X.
Clashes Between Elon Musk And The U.K. Government
The clashes started on Sunday, August 4, when Musk tweeted on his X platform that “civil war is inevitable,” in the U.K. in response to a post claiming that migration had led to the protests.
This narrative is being spread on social media blaming the riots and the unrest the U.K. is currently witnessing on immigrants. It originated from the spread of misinformation online that a 17-year-old suspect in killing three girls in Southport was a Muslim immigrant. Although the claim has been debunked and the suspect was confirmed to not be an immigrant, this narrative has not disappeared from social media.
Musk has also retweeted and commented on posts attacking U.K. authorities for arresting suspects for taking part in the riots. He further posted supporting those who attack officials for arresting people.
However, U.K. authorities have not responded to Musk’s comments directly. The Guardian paper reported that parliament members of the ruling Labour Party were privately warned not to engage in debate on X about the far-right violence.
Chief Whip Alan Campbell sent a letter to MPs saying that it is “important that you do not do anything that risks amplifying misinformation on social media and do not get drawn into debates online.”
It bears mentioning that as the riot in the U.K. was caused due to the spread of misinformation online, that Musk has taken part in, Ofcom says they will soon put new duties on tech firms to protect users in the U.K. from illegal content, ranging from inciting violence to some instances of disinformation.
Read More
How Misinformation Fuels Hate Speech Surge Against Muslims in Britain
Old Video of Police Raiding a Place Resurfaces Amid Ongoing Riots in the U.K.
