The government in London is laboring to get US tech entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk designated a “malign actor” – a label previously reserved for nation-states the UK considers to be hostile.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy is reported to be holding “crisis talks” with British parliament members (MPs) around this issue, with “disinformation threats” cited as the reason behind these developments.
An inquiry into this was organized in January by the Foreign Affairs Committee, whose chair Emily Thornberry, an MP from the ranks of the ruling Labour, asserted this type of threat against the country and its interests is now being “weaponized” by both state and non-state actors.
Thornberry at the same time “named and shamed” Musk as one of the latter, who, in his role as X owner, allegedly “exploits the platform to spread disinformation that disrupts and destabilizes.”
But, the more even-keeled members of the government apparatus – namely, its diplomats – have reportedly advised Lammy against equating influential individuals with state-backed disinformation campaigns.
The inquiry is expected to be a topic of conversation as Lammy and Thornberry meet this week. This particular attack on Musk is linked with the decision to reinstate the previously banned account of Tommy Robinson on X, and Musk’s support for him was expressed last month.
Robinson is branded in some reports as a “far-right activist” while his supporters consider him a “political prisoner” (he has been jailed on contempt of court charges, while the case against him is essentially based on “hate speech” accusations).
But the UK’s government troubles with Musk run deeper, including dramatic reactions to the X owner’s criticism regarding the authorities’ handling of last summer’s widespread riots, and more recently, of the grooming gangs scandal.
Thornberry’s arguments – after years of all major platforms “tweaking” their algorithms and moderation policies to firmly toe government(s) line on a number of key issues – is that social media (aka, X) “algorithms” have broken rank, to now allow “more controversial and incendiary content, furthering disinformation’s reach.”
Thornberry is also worried about the trend of dropping third-party “fact-checkers.”
One of the inquiry’s stated goals is to examine how the UK government can “coordinate its counter-disinformation work across departments and best work with private organizations.”
