Elon Musk’s X not facing action from UK government over posts inciting violence in Belfast

The family of Ogilvie, who lost his left eye in the attack, appealed for calm, saying that while they were “completely devastated” by what had happened to him, they rejected disorder as a response.

“We are aware of the tensions and talk of protests following this incident,” they said in a statement shared via Phillip Brett, the Democratic Unionist MLA for Belfast North. “We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward.

“We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including in our healthcare system and hospitality sector, and we depend on them to make our country work. We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.”

After Musk and other far-right agitators, including Tommy Robinson, called for demonstrations in response to the attack, among those forced to flee their homes were two Ugandan care workers, who were rescued after a church pastor pleaded with a mob of rioters to allow the women to leave.

One of the women, Sumayah Nakazibwe, described a “terrifying” ordeal where she and her housemate, Stella Ariokot, were trapped inside their home as a mob gathered outside and neighbouring houses burned.

“Someone who is actually rioting doesn’t know that the person they are targeting is actually looking after their mother or their granny,” she said.

Musk has rejected claims he is to blame for inciting disorder in Belfast. On X, he shared a post that argued the “very deliberate policy of mass uncontrolled immigration and open borders” is inflaming tensions – and not social media.

Later on Wednesday, Ruth Anderson, the Labour peer who is a Cabinet Office minister, told the Lords that 27 people had been made homeless after foreign nationals were targeted.

A former police national lead for counter-terrorism warned on Wednesday that far-right agitation over migration was the biggest current national security threat facing Britain.

Neil Basu said the way anger was being stoked by powerful social media figures and hostile foreign states meant it was a bigger danger than Islamist terrorism.

Basu said: “The way we talk about immigration is fuelling violence on the streets, and is fuelled by social media. Black and brown people are walking around terrified. What the extremists want is a white Britain.”

In contrast, Jonathan Hall, the senior lawyer who is the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said national security was potentially under threat from the arrival of people from countries where they might have experienced or even participated in violence, and that people had a right to be worried.

“It’s absolutely legitimate to talk about immigration in the context of national security,” Hall told the BBC.

As clearing-up work began after the first night of disorder, Liz Kendall, the science and technology secretary, said in a statement that the updates to the Online Safety Act would be laid out next week, which will require social media companies to “take quicker action to remove illegal content circulating during times of crisis”.

While this will be secondary legislation, and will not need a vote, it has to be laid before parliament for 40 days before taking effect.

On Wednesday, Ofcom published an open letter to X and other online content providers, reminding them of their responsibilities under the law to not allow incitement to take place.

Burnt buildings and cars in the aftermath of this week’s unrest in Belfast. Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images

It was reported that Alodid claimed asylum in Northern Ireland after crossing the border from the Republic of Ireland, which has few controls.

It is understood that the Home Office plans to intensify intelligence-led operations to detect migrants without the right to be in the UK, or people with criminal records, including the use of facial recognition technology.

After the knife attack, far-right activists called for demonstrations, while Musk reposted comments he made last year saying violence was inevitable and that people needed to “fight back or you die”.

Northern Ireland’s justice minister, Naomi Long, condemned the violence which she said was fuelled by online commentators who would struggle to find Belfast on the map.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “bad faith actors” had incited racism in the city. “What distresses and disturbs me is there are those that prior to yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map, who are online, who are sharing incitement and encouragement for people and weaponising the fear that people genuinely have about what happened to try and turn this into some kind of anti-immigration issue or a racist protest.”

She added: “Ultimately if you’re driving people from their homes based on the colour of their skin, you can’t dress that up any other way – it’s racism.”

Anna Turley, a Cabinet Office minister and chair of the Labour party, also said social media was playing a role in increasing the tensions, adding: “There are bad faith actors who are sitting often many, many miles away. It’s easy for them to stoke these things up.”

Asked if she was referring to Musk, she told Times Radio: “He’s not living in the kind of communities where we’re seeing this kind of activity. He’s not at risk.

“He has a responsibility; everyone in public and civil life has a responsibility to call for calm and not to stoke grievance or hatred or division or tension that puts vulnerable people and our communities at risk.”

Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, condemned the delay in taking any action against X, after using Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions to urge Starmer to intervene.

He told the Guardian: “The system clearly isn’t fit for purpose. It builds in delay after delay so platforms can get away with breaching their duties for ages before Ofcom does anything about it.”

Responding to Davey in the Commons, Starmer said: “We will crack down on anyone who is fuelling this division.”

Asked what this would mean in practice, Starmer’s spokesperson referred to his actions against X and Grok, saying he “won’t hesitate to do that again”.