Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and one of the loudest voices of the internet, made numerous X posts Wednesday and Thursday in support of deporting immigrants from the United Kingdom, perhaps under violent conditions.
His comments and reposts, shared on the eve of SpaceX’s initial public offering, channeled outrage over a knife attack against an Irish man in Belfast on Monday evening. A 30-year-old Sudanese refugee and legal resident allegedly committed the stabbing and has been charged with attempted murder, according to officials.
What did Elon Musk say about the Belfast stabbing?
Among his posts, Musk amplified Rupert Lowe, a member of the British Parliament and founder of the anti-immigrant Restore Britain movement.
In one video clip Musk shared, Lowe calls for the deportation of migrants who can’t financially support themselves. Musk reshared a post from Restore Britain announcing that the movement would “reverse the third-worldification of our country.” Musk also replied “Yes” to an X post of Lowe’s in which he declares, “Britain doesn’t have a racism problem, it has an immigration problem.”
Musk used the same single-word affirmation to reply to an X user’s post quoting Lowe’s support of “reverse mass migration” and adding the commentary, “Deport the invaders. Imprison the government.” Lowe said on X earlier this week that “[m]illions and millions need to leave or be made to leave.”
Anger over Monday’s attack led to riots in Belfast and other locations in Northern Ireland. The protesters set cars, garbage cans, and a city bus on fire, according to the New York Times. They also appeared to target the homes of immigrants. Firefighters aided families when their homes were set on fire Tuesday night.
The victim, who was hospitalized with serious injuries, called for calm in a statement shared by his family, the New York Times said.
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The UK regulator Ofcom will not reprimand X for surfacing or promoting posts that incited violence against immigrants for at least two months, according to the Guardian.
Musk denied that social media contributed to the riots and instead blamed “murderous migrants” as the source of people’s anger.
Will Elon Musk’s comments affect the SpaceX IPO?
When SpaceX filed for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, it acknowledged the chances that Musk’s public commentary could influence the company’s business.
“The actions and statements of Mr. Musk and his affiliated ventures, whether or not directly relating to us, may draw significant public attention and scrutiny to us and could potentially have a positive or negative impact on our business, relationships with customers and regulators, or stock price,” the SpaceX filing read.
Musk’s company xAI, which became part of SpaceX earlier this year, is also facing a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of plaintiffs whose real photographs were allegedly used to create child sexual abuse material via the AI chatbot Grok.
Ahead of the IPO, a 40-foot tall inflatable effigy of Musk appeared in New York City’s Times Square as a reminder of those cases. The inflatable’s torso had an unmissable message tying SpaceX and Grok to the creation of child sexual abuse material. It was placed there by Safe AI Now, or SANE, a coalition of groups concerned about AI safety, according to Wired.
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SpaceX announced Thursday that it will make 555,555,555 shares available for purchase at $135 per share. The IPO is scheduled for Friday, June 12.
As Mashable’s Chris Taylor recently wrote, SpaceX’s SEC form “was stuffed with eye-poppingly dubious claims about SpaceX’s future as an AI company, as well as eye-wateringly embarrassing admissions about SpaceX, its new subsidiary xAI, and Grok.” Despite these admissions, Taylor noted, SpaceX was still on track for a $1.75 trillion valuation.
Musk’s endorsement of forcibly removing millions of immigrants from the United Kingdom hasn’t yet appeared to affect investor appetite for SpaceX stock. Retail traders have reportedly ordered $100 billion in SpaceX stock ahead of the public offering, according to Forbes.
The IPO is expected to make Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
