ELON Musk’s recent tweets attacking the UK and senior Labour politicians are “being probed by the Government’s counter-extremism unit”, according to reports.
The Mirror newspaper reports that the Home Office is increasing its monitoring to assess what is being shared on Twitter/X, including Musk’s recent activity.
The unit is apparently intensifying its surveillance of Musk’s posts attacking safeguarding minister Jess Phillips – who said she faced a “deluge of hate” after the tech billionaire accused her of being a “rape genocide apologist”.
Musk’s comments, aimed at Phillips and Prime Minister Keir Starmer followed Labour’s decision to decline a Whitehall-led inquiry into child sexual abuse in Oldham.
Jess Philips is a rape genocide apologist https://t.co/vmLKtIQ6YV
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 3, 2025
The counter-extremism unit is part of the Homeland Security Plant, whose “mission is to reduce national security risks to the UK’s people, prosperity and freedoms”.
According to the UK Government website, it focuses on the “highest harm risks to the homeland, whether from terrorists, state actors, or cyber and economic criminals”.
It comes after a series of far-right riots were encouraged by social media content in August last year.
Just yesterday, the UK's terror watchdog also told LBC that threats against female MPs such as Phillips could amount to terrorism.
Speaking to Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour MP said there had been an “attempt” to bully her.
“On Friday, it was just a deluge of hate,” she said.
Phillips said the tide changed as young women and constituents reached out to show support.
“It became the deluge of ‘we know this isn’t true’, and I think that the vast majority of people in the country can see exactly what is happening,” she said.
