Elon Musk is the world’s richest man – with a penchant for politics. The 54-year-old is estimated to have a net worth of $852bn and is closing in (he hopes) on becoming the world’s first trillionaire.
But it is his full-throated embrace of right-wing politics that has brought him more attention lately than any of his businesses such as Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter).
While politicians like Donald Trump have a shelf life mandated by political norms, no such constraints apply to Musk, which makes the question of his future plans so pressing for, whether it likes it or not, the entire world.
So, what will Elon Musk do next? Chris Stokel-Walker, a technology journalist, James Ball, the political editor of The New World, and Zing Tsjeng, a freelance writer and broadcaster, offer their perspectives.
Elon Musk is not British. He has never lived in the UK for any extended period of time. None of his companies are headquartered here.
And yet, the world’s richest man has repeatedly seemed to have an interest in the UK that borders at times on the obsessive – though he rarely has anything nice to say about the country.
He has described the UK as a “tyrannical police state” in which “civil war is inevitable”. He has suggested the establishment is engaged in an ongoing cover-up over so-called grooming gangs. He seems to bear a deep and personal hatred for Keir Starmer. And he personally joined a rally in London by the far-right leader Tommy Robinson over video-link, wearing a “WHAT WOULD ORWELL THINK?” T-shirt – before going on to reportedly fund Robinson’s legal bills.
Musk is fixated on the UK, despite having no real connection to it. The obvious question to ask is: why? As ever with the divisive Musk, there are multiple plausible answers on offer, any combination of which might be true.
The story Musk himself tells is that he feels a deep affinity to the UK, even if he isn’t British himself. Musk, who was born in South Africa and is a naturalised US citizen, notes that he has British ancestry and so feels he has a stake in the country’s future through that.
Britain is also often credited on the US right as the “parent” of the US – leading Maga figures from Musk to Vice-President J D Vance to feel entitled to tell us when they feel we’re straying. In this framing, Musk’s concern for Britain is an altruistic one, even if it takes a unique form.
Naturally, there is a more cynical explanation that fits the facts just as easily. The UK, like most European nations, has a different interpretation of free speech than the US, where the First Amendment protects almost all speech that doesn’t directly incite harm. European free speech protections weigh expression against broader harms – allowing Germany to ban Holocaust denial, for example, and the UK to ban speech inciting racial or religious hatred.
Given Elon Musk has branded X, the social network once known as Twitter, as the “free speech network”, and unbanned many previously expelled far-right figures, this has led to clashes with UK and European authorities.
X is under investigation by Ofcom and the ICO, and is often criticised by British politicians. It could potentially face billions in fines under UK online safety laws.
At the same time, UK police make around 1,000 arrests a month relating to online social media posts, many relating to X.
If Musk can make an example of the UK – a medium-sized country not protected by being in a bloc like the EU – and go to battle with regulators here he might be able to persuade other countries to back off from fights with his companies.
There is a third, simpler, explanation for Musk’s persistent interest, too. Musk is a known insomniac, often posting on his own social network for 18+ hours a day. The UK is awake when the US is asleep, and posts content in English. That means that naturally, a lot of British content will find its way into Musk’s feed, and he jumps on it.
The world’s richest man seems to have been radicalised to the extent that he professes many beliefs traditionally associated with the far right. He has seemed to endorse the Great Replacement conspiracy theory – suggesting Muslims are being deliberately “imported” into the west to displace “natives”.
And he does seem to wish to play a role as a power broker on the UK right. For months he seemed to flirt with Nigel Farage’s Reform party, with the prospect of a multimillion-pound donation – but seemed to break with Farage over his lack of support for Tommy Robinson.
His companies have UK subsidiaries that are eligible to donate to UK political parties, but his broader support through control of a major social network might be even more valuable.
Musk has openly aligned himself with far-right factions in UK politics, and the association is not just casual. Acknowledging that reality is, perhaps, far more important than working out how, exactly, it came to be – because then the British political mainstream needs to know what to do about it.
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