What’s going on with Elon Musk?
Has the world’s wealthiest man decided to exploit his power for political ends?
Is he defending a stated devotion to “free speech” – and his business interests – from government regulation?
Or is trolling the UK government simply amusing to a mercurial, mischievous man high on his own supply of followers and money?
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One thing’s for certain – what a difference nine months makes.
“We feel very proud, very excited to have you,” said Rishi Sunak, as he introduced Elon Musk at an artificial intelligence conference in the UK last November.
Pic: Simon Walker/No 10 Downing Street
Now his successor, Sir Keir Starmer, must wish Musk would just go away.
They know of course the very unhelpful views of a private individual would best be ignored.
But when that individual has 193 million followers on a social media platform they own, that isn’t going to work.
Leaving Number 10 now having to rebuke the electric car/rocket/AI/social media mogul for putting his nose where it most definitely isn’t wanted.
And at a time when it’s least welcome – as the government struggles to contain the most widespread rioting in recent UK history, partly fuelled by social media misinformation, and coordinated using social media tools.
Musk is well known for controversial posts on X – but this is something different.
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He appears to be on a mission, criticising the causes and policing of the ongoing riots, and getting personal: using the hashtag “#2tierkeir” in reference to right-wing criticism of alleged two-tier policing.
He’s also interacted with far-right activists like Tommy Robinson on X, a level of profile the former English Defence League leader could have only dreamed of – especially at such a pivotal moment.
But Musk isn’t just coming after Sir Keir.
After coming out in support of Donald Trump’s re-election in the US, he’s been ramping up his political opinions there too.
Recent tweets have criticised the Biden administration’s record on health and immigration policy.
Are we simply seeing a rightward slide in Musk’s politics?
There’s more to it than that.
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Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Legislation like the UK’s Online Harms Act, the EU’s equivalent and efforts to pass the same in the US, could threaten his social media business.
It certainly threatens his vision of X being a global “town square” where people can say anything in the name of free speech without fear of interference.
The problem for the UK government, or in fact any other democracy watching the situation here unfold, is that the real town squares are now filled with violent mobs and social media helped put them there.
So what is going on inside the head of the world’s richest man?
That meeting back in November between Mr Sunak and Musk may offer some clues.
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Elon Musk comments ‘unjustified’
Mr Sunak, a very rich man, almost-fawning over the world’s richest, may have been doing so partly due to a shared interest in AI and tech.
But it was also because Musk – or more accurately his business interests in AI and building gigafactories for electric car batteries – is seen as a solution to some of the UK’s woes.
The interview confirmed something that should trouble all democracies at the moment: the traditional balance of global power has shifted.
Musk, worth in the region of $250bn (£197bn), has wealth rivalling that of smaller nation states.
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Given that his wealth is largely derived from the sorts of technologies the UK and other nations want for themselves, he has been afforded the kind of privilege and power wielded by world leaders.
Only Musk, a businessman, is not bound by the same rules as them.
And he knows it.
He has gone – in nine short months – from being seen as a potential solution to our needs, to a massive problem.