Key facts
- An NGO, Mend, has filed a complaint with UK media regulator Ofcom.
- The complaint targets Elon Musk's promotion of the film 'Citizen Vigilante' on his platform X.
- The film has been criticized for its anti-migrant and anti-Muslim themes, including a scene depicting the killing of a Muslim family.
- Mend argues the film incites and valorizes violence against Muslims, potentially breaching the UK's 2023 Online Safety Act.
- The NGO questions the effectiveness of X's content moderation systems, particularly given the platform owner's involvement.
The UK media regulator Ofcom has received a complaint from the NGO Mend (Muslim Engagement and Development) concerning the promotion of the film 'Citizen Vigilante' on X, formerly Twitter, by its owner Elon Musk.
Mend argues that the film, which depicts a wealthy US landlord becoming a vigilante and targeting criminals, rapists, and officials, is widely criticized as anti-migrant and anti-Muslim. The NGO specifically highlighted a scene where the protagonist massacres a Muslim family and includes dialogue that attributes the abuse of women to Islamic teachings.
The film, directed by Uwe Boll and starring Armie Hammer, has been panned by critics for its exploitative nature and for playing into harmful stereotypes. It was notably not given age verification in Germany due to concerns about inciting violence against immigrants.
Mend's complaint to Ofcom asserts that Musk's decision to post the entire film on X for free exposed a mass UK audience to content that endorses, incites, and valorizes the killing of Muslim families, potentially breaching the UK's 2023 Online Safety Act. The NGO questioned the effectiveness and consistency of X's safety systems, especially given the platform owner's direct involvement in disseminating the content.
The complaint was filed against a backdrop of heightened risks for Muslim and minority communities, following recent anti-migrant rioting in parts of the UK. Mend emphasized that the mass distribution of such a film carries a foreseeable risk of normalizing and encouraging real-world hostility and violence.