How Elon Musk Amplified Anti-Immigrant Hate on X That Fueled the Belfast Riots

Even before the court appearance, violence had erupted. On Tuesday night, masked men set fire to homes they believed housed immigrants, torched a bus, and attacked police with rocks and other objects . The riots continued for a second night on Wednesday. By the time the violence subsided, twelve police officers had been injured and 16 arrests had been made in a single night . By June 13, the total number of arrests had climbed to 23, with 17 people charged, including an 18-year-old charged with common law riot . Ogilvie's own family publicly condemned the racist violence, emphasizing the valuable contribution of migrants to the UK .

CCDH's Findings: "The Owner Amplifier"

Amid the unrest, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) published research quantifying Elon Musk's role in spreading inflammatory content. A key report titled "The Owner Amplifier" analyzed a sample of 92 posts from three prominent accounts on X: Elon Musk, far-right activist Tommy Robinson, and Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe .

The analysis revealed that these three accounts generated a staggering 115.4 million total views. Elon Musk's own posts accounted for 55% of that figure, racking up over 64 million views . Rather than limiting the spread of harmful material, Musk's account—the most-followed on the platform with over 240 million followers—actively amplified anti-migrant narratives, extending their reach to millions of users . Musk himself shared a post from Tommy Robinson that announced protest locations, and another from Restore Britain that declared, "Do not make peace with evil. Destroy it" .

Beyond raw views, the CCDH identified an "explosion in calls for violence" in the replies to these posts. The organization's analysis uncovered 3,930 comments containing explicit calls for violence, including calls for lynchings and other crimes against immigrants. Of these, 240 were in direct replies to Musk's posts . This data was part of a broader pattern identified by CCDH, which previously found that X was failing to act on 97% of posts calling for violence against migrants or Muslims that were reported to the platform .

Separate research from the Coalition for a Safer Online Hate (CSOH) found that a broader dataset of anti-immigrant content on X amassed 1.51 billion views and 1.53 billion total engagements, including 11.5 million likes and 3.17 million reposts .

Musk's Defensive Response

As criticism mounted, Musk responded defiantly. He dismissed the outcry as an overreaction, asserting that his detractors were simply looking for "any justification for censorship" . In a characteristic move, his posts and those of the figures he amplified remained online, even as the UK communications regulator Ofcom warned social media platforms of their legal obligations.

A Government Scrambling to Respond

Britain’s media regulator, Ofcom, reacted swiftly to the crisis. On June 10, it published an open letter reminding social media platforms of their legal obligations under the Online Safety Act 2023 to "assess and mitigate the risks of illegal activity," including content that "stirs up hatred or provokes violence" . Technology Secretary Liz Kendall also announced she had asked Ofcom to “discuss urgently” with X and other platforms how they would comply with the law .

However, the UK government found its hands tied from imposing immediate sanctions. With the existing legislation, formal enforcement action against X was projected to take at least two months . In response, the government moved to amend the Online Safety Act to give Ofcom stronger, emergency-style powers to order the swift removal of incendiary content “in times of crisis.” Technology Secretary Liz Kendall stated that the new rules would force platforms to “take quicker action to remove illegal content circulating during times of crisis,” though the changes were not expected to take effect until at least mid-July .

A Trillion-Dollar Juxtaposition

The final chapter of this saga played out with jarring timing. On June 12, 2026, Elon Musk’s aerospace company, SpaceX, debuted on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX in the largest initial public offering in history. The IPO raised $75 billion by selling 555.6 million shares at $135 each, giving SpaceX a market valuation of roughly $1.77 trillion . Shares surged nearly 19% on the first day, closing at approximately $161 and pushing the company’s value to around $2.1 trillion .

As the company’s largest shareholder with a roughly 40% stake, Musk's net worth on paper skyrocketed. Forbes estimated his total fortune at approximately $1.1 trillion, making him the first person in history to hold a net worth above one trillion dollars . The astronomical financial milestone stood in stark contrast to the scenes from Northern Ireland and the CCDH's reports of violent rhetoric spreading on a platform he owned, a juxtaposition that drew intense international scrutiny .