JOHN Swinney has accused tech billionaire Elon Musk of “reprehensible” and “baseless” language aimed towards former first minister Humza Yousaf.
Musk, the alt-right owner of Twitter/X, previously said “civil war” is inevitable in the UK following far-right riots in England and Northern Ireland.
Yousaf’s legal team has issued a warning to Musk after he called the SNP MSP “super, super racist”.
In a post on his own Twitter/X account, Musk said “legal discovery will show that however big a racist he’s been in public communications, he is vastly worse in private communications”.
Yousaf (below) previously called Musk a “dangerous race baiter” and “one of the most dangerous men on the planet”, accusing him of "amplifying white supremacy”.
Swinney said the language used by Musk “tells us all we need to know” about the way in which X, formerly Twitter, is “being used as a platform for the fermenting of hate in our society”.
Speaking to the media on Monday, the First Minister said: “I think the language that Elon Musk has used is not only reprehensible, it’s baseless.
“It tells us all we need to know about the degree to which the platform which Elon Musk owns is being used as a platform for the fermenting of hate in our society.
“Ofcom reminded social media companies of their obligations to take their material that incites hatred or racism or violence – and that’s not been followed by X.
“The comments by Elon Musk perhaps evidence why that’s been the case.”
Swinney added that he wanted to make sure social media companies are held to account so that they are unable to “propagate the tension and hatred” which has stoked far-right disorder across England and Northern Ireland in recent days.
He continued: “I think in all of this issue, which causes me a huge amount of anxiety and unease about violence within our community – thankfully we’ve been protected from that so far in Scotland.
“But I want to make sure that people like Elon Musk are held to account and aren’t able to propagate the tension and hatred which has been part of our lives for far too long.”
