Sir Keir Starmer vows crackdown on those fuelling Belfast division as Elon Musk rejects blame

The billionaire X owner, who continued overnight to promote calls for people to take to the streets in response to Monday’s knife attack, hit back at accusations he was inflaming tensions and blamed immigration policy.

Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old Sudanese man, was remanded in custody after appearing in court charged with attempted murder over the stabbing attack in which victim Stephen Ogilvie lost his left eye.

The reaction to the incident saw protesters set homes, a bus and cars on fire, with people targeted based on their race.

Sir Keir on Wednesday said “there is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere.”

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey spoke of “extremists who exploit that grief and anger to spread hatred and violence, aided and abetted by social media barons like Elon Musk and their divisive algorithms”.

Sir Ed said: “Does the Prime Minister agree this is not who we are as a country, and that it is not free speech if it is controlled by tech billionaires and their algorithms?

“So, will he crack down properly on platforms like X that are fuelling violence and hatred?”

Sir Keir responded: “We will crack down on anyone who is fuelling this division.”

Asked what he would do, No 10 referred back to actions Sir Keir had taken over the last year on social media and said he “won’t hesitate to do that again”.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman pointed to fines issued by Ofcom under the Online Safety Act and nearly 100 investigations launched under it, as well as action taken against chatbot Grok earlier this year.

“And we’ve always said that that Act is the start, not the end of the conversation,” he said, referring to the legislation designed to protect people online.

Communications regulator Ofcom said some of the disorder “appears to have been incited online”, adding: “This has included racially motivated incidents of violence, arson attacks on homes and vehicles, and attacks against police.”

The watchdog said it was contacting specific providers – although it would not confirm which ones – “where we believe there are specific risks around the presence of illegal content relating to the civil unrest”.

Online service providers have duties under the UK’s Online Safety Act 2023 to “assess and mitigate the risks of illegal activity occurring on their sites and apps” – content which can include stirring up hatred or provoking violence.

Earlier, Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley said online platforms were “playing a role in driving” the unrest and suggested Mr Musk was one of the “bad faith actors” stoking tensions.

Mr Musk shared lists on X of locations where protests could take place – also posted by activist Tommy Robinson – and retweeted Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe’s post saying “Millions must go” with a screengrab of footage of the knife attack.

“There are bad faith actors who are sitting often many, many miles away. It is easy for them to stoke these things up,” Ms Turley told Times Radio.

“He (Mr Musk) has a responsibility, everyone in public and civil life has a responsibility to call for calm and not to stoke grievance or hatred or division or tension that puts vulnerable people and our communities at risk.”

But the American billionaire supported a post by GB News presenter Matt Goodwin saying it was not social media or him inflaming tensions in the UK, but “the very deliberate policy of mass uncontrolled immigration and open borders”.

Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long said social media agitators should “step away from their keyboards” following the violence.

Speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, she said those who “yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map” were “weaponising the fear that people genuinely have about what happened”.

Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, repeatedly posted on X about the unfolding disorder, saying “foreign businesses are being destroyed in Belfast” and that homes suspected of housing asylum seekers “are getting trashed by angry locals”.

Concerns have also been raised about messages encouraging disorder being forwarded many times on WhatsApp.

One message said to have circulated overnight urged men of the age of 18 and over to “wear dark clothing and be prepared to fight or be arrested”.

Ms Turley told Times Radio: “I would absolutely condemn that kind of message. That solves nothing.

“That kind of message is more than irresponsible, it is dangerous, and it should not be happening. And I’d urge everyone to stay calm.”

Communication apps enabled mobs to co-ordinate quickly, making the police response more difficult, Tory shadow Northern Ireland secretary Alex Burghart said.

He told Sky News: “The evidence that I’ve seen so far suggests that this was very well organised, it was very well co-ordinated, and groups that use modern communication technology can obviously co-ordinate very, very fast and get to specific locations very, very quickly.

“That makes it hard for the law enforcement agencies to respond.”