lon Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said his party will table a motion calling for Elon Musk to be summoned to appear before MPs after being accused of ramping up the risk of violence in the UK
Elon Musk is a criminal because of his failure to keep kids safe online, Keir Starmer has been told.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has demanded the world ’s richest man is hauled before MPs after telling a Tommy Robinson-organised rally that violence is coming to the UK.
Asked if Musk, owner of social media platform X, is a criminal, he told Sky News’ Sir Trevor Phillips: “Yes.
“Not just because of the awful things he’s done, inciting violence, for example, he says a civil war in our country is inevitable, that our democratically elected Government should be overthrown.
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“They were bad enough. But on his platform, there are examples of adverts pushing people on self-harm, on grooming, even selling videos showing paedophile acts, child sex abuse acts. I think he should be held to account for them. Him personally and his business.”
Last week Musk appeared via video link at the Unite the Kingdom rally, organised by far-right agitator Tommy Robinson. He sparked a backlash for warning the audience they must “fight back” or “die”, and told them “violence is going to come for you”.
In a speech at the party conference on Tuesday, Sir Ed is expected to say: “We know why Elon Musk is so keen to meddle in our democracy. It’s not because he cares about the British people, and our rights and our freedoms.
“It’s all about his ego, power and wealth. He rails against the Online Safety Act, but not because he cares about free speech. Like so many on the far-right – or the far-left – Elon Musk doesn’t really believe in free speech. He just believes in free speech for people who agree with him. It’s because he wants to carry on running his social media platform without taking any responsibility for the terrible harm it is causing – especially to our children.”
The Lib Dem boss has called for an Ofcom investigation into X, as well as the businessman personally, for failing to uphold their duties under the Online Safety Act.
Sir Ed and Mr Musk have been locked in a social media spat over the last week. Sir Ed accused Musk of inciting violence after the incident, with the businessman branding him a “craven coward” in return.
The Lib Dem leader then shared a meme image of SpongeBob SquarePants, parroting back the words to the business man to mock him. His party plans to table a motion as soon as Parliament returns, aiming to summon Musk to appear before MPs to be held to account for his actions at the rally.
The little-used parliamentary power would demand Mr Musk appear at the threshold of the House of Commons, the so-called bar, to be publicly admonished. The power has not been tested for decades, and was last used on a “stranger”, a non-MP, in 1957.
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