Does Elon Musk have too much power over how we communicate online?

Is he using that power to fuel dangerous far-right conspiracies?

This week on The Big Picture Podcast, we’re joined by Marc Owen Jones, social media analyst, author and assistant professor at Northwestern University in Doha.

Over the last few weeks, he’s been documenting the Southport anti-immigrant riots across the UK, and the link between online misinformation and the real world violence it can cause.

The riots, fueled by misinformation spread by online influencers like Tommy Robbinson, Andrew Tate and Nigel Farage, who initially blamed immigrants and Muslims for the attack, despite the suspect not belonging to either group.

The UK government pinned much of the blame on X-owner and tech-mogul Elon Musk, who was seen to engage actively in the conversation, sharing far-right memes and conspiracy theories about a ‘two tier justice system’ - accusing the British government of cracking down on free speech and being under the influence of Islamists.

Musk, who bought X in 2022 under a mandate of “protecting free speech”, has increasingly been accused of turning the platform into an unmoderated, bot-filled conspiracy den, and that he himself has become one of its worst offenders.

So are the accusations true?

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