Key facts
- More than half of X accounts discussing UK unrest in Belfast and Southampton were based outside the UK.
- The analysis covered 43,000 tweets posted during the June unrest.
- 16.8% of accounts were from the US, and approximately 25% from other European countries.
- Seven of the 12 most-viewed tweets originated from the US, including one by Elon Musk.
- Nearly a third of all tweets contained racist or anti-immigration comments.
- Almost 10% of tweets related to Belfast incited violence.
An analysis by The Guardian has revealed that a significant portion of social media activity on Elon Musk's platform X concerning civil unrest in Belfast and Southampton originated from outside the UK. Of the 8,672 accounts whose posts garnered over 1,000 views, only 45.3% were identified as being based in the UK. The United States accounted for 16.8% of these accounts, with Ireland contributing 4.5% and other European countries making up about a quarter.
Seven of the twelve most-read tweets about the Belfast and Southampton incidents came from the US, including posts from Elon Musk himself and other US commentators associated with the "alt-right." This pattern suggests an effort by US rightwing actors to influence discourse in the UK during moments of disorder, a tactic that has received intermittent political attention in Britain.
The Guardian collected 43,000 tweets mentioning Belfast, Southampton, Henry Nowak, or Vickrum Digwa between June 2 and June 9. Using a large language model and manual verification, the analysis found that nearly a third of these tweets contained racist or anti-immigration comments, and almost 10% of those related to Belfast included calls for violence.
Experts like Imran Ahmed of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate described X as a "weapon of choice" for foreign actors aiming to manipulate divisive content and incite violence in communities they have no connection to. Fiona Hill, a former US and UK government advisor, warned that the UK is susceptible to online manipulation due to a lack of focus on "psychological" defense.
Elon Musk's own posts, including one viewed over 28 million times comparing media silence on the death of Henry Nowak to coverage of George Floyd, have been noted. Musk has posted about UK race and immigration issues twice as often as about SpaceX in the lead-up to its IPO. The analysis also highlighted accounts like @EndWokeness, linked to rightwing influencer Jack Posobiec, and Benny Johnson, who accused the New York Times of biased reporting. Signs of inauthenticity, such as frequent username changes on accounts like C3 (@C_3C_3) and NewsSceneUK, were also observed, suggesting potential efforts to obscure origins or amplify narratives.