Scotland’s ex-first minister calls Elon Musk as ‘one of the most dangerous men on the planet’

EDINBURGH: Speaking before a crowd at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Humza Yousaf recently said the owner of X – formerly Twitter – used his wealth “for some of the most wicked evil I’ve seen”.

Yousaf has issued a warning to tech billionaire Elon Musk after he called the ex-first minister a “super, super racist”. X owner Musk used his own social media site to brand the Glasgow-born politician a bigot for a speech Yousaf made in the Scottish Parliament about racial injustice and lack of diversity. The Tesla boss, who is facing accusations of stoking far right violence on Britain’s streets by suggesting civil war was “inevitable”, told his 193 million followers the SNP MSP “loathes white people”. The Sunday Mail understands Yousaf has not ruled out legal action and is “considering all options”.

His lawyer Aamer Anwar said: “Anybody who goes on social media, even if they own the platform and thinks that free speech is absolute whether in the UK or USA, needs to think again. Free speech carries responsibility and if you break the law there are consequences, as we have seen in recent days.

“Elon Musk has effectively painted a target on Humza Yousaf’s back with his completely unacceptable, untrue and inflammatory comments.”

The comments come as Musk deleted a repost on the website on Thursday where he promoted a false claim about detainment camps being set up in the Falkland Islands for those involved in violent riots in the past week, reported international media.

The world’s richest man has repeatedly weighed in on the disorder seen in the UK in the wake of the murders of three young girls in Southport, including dubbing the prime minister “two-tier Keir” and suggesting “civil war is inevitable” in the country.

Speaking about Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, the former first minister described he and Musk as “bosom buddies”, going on to say of the X owner: “I have to say, in my opinion, he is one of the most dangerous men on the planet. He is accountable to nobody, he has vast wealth at his fingertips and he uses it for some of the most wicked evil I’ve seen.”

Speaking at another event with broadcaster Matthew Stadlen, Yousaf added: “He is not an idiot – Elon Musk is very smart, very tech-savvy.” Musk could research the claims he amplifies on social media, the former first minister said, but he chooses not to.

Yousaf pointed to the since-deleted repost of a faked headline purporting to be from the Daily Telegraph claiming Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was planning detention camps in the Falkland Islands for rioters. The prime minister, he said, has an opportunity to seek to regulate social media companies.

Yousaf, who was appearing at Iain Dale’s All Talk show at the Edinburgh Fringe, said the tech billionaire had “amplified” white supremacists and “far-right neo Nazi conspiracy theories”.

“So he’s amplified these white supremacists, these far-right neo Nazi conspiracy theories and has almost called for civil war in Europe. He does it with a question mark, with emojis, and tries to make it as though it’s an innocent question. He is using his wealth to amplify the far-right.”

Yousaf said: “Elon Musk, again, is not an idiot. He’s a smart individual who can easily use a search engine to see whether that headline is true. He didn’t. He chose to amplify that to his 190 million followers. He’s as I say, I think one of the most dangerous men on the planet particularly because he’s so unaccountable.”

Elsewhere, the former SNP leader spoke candidly about his difficult time as first minister, and his disastrous decision to end the power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Greens, which led to his downfall.

Yousaf also told the event, which was relatively poorly attended, that the pressures of the job led to “heated arguments” with his wife, Nadia El-Nakla, about not spending enough time with his children. He said she told him: “You’re away for three days and then you’re coming back and you want to go away for a fourth night or a fifth night? That’s not acceptable. Get your backside back home and make sure you see the kids.”

In an interview with the Sunday Mail the day before Musk’s post, Yousaf accused the South African-born tycoon of repeatedly amplifying the views of racists. He said: “It is probably the first case of someone being radicalised by himself on his own platform. Musk uses his billions and his intellect to amplify hateful ideology and cause division. He is promoting white supremacists by engaging and indulging in their conspiracy theories. These are people sitting in their mothers’ basements in their Y-fronts eating spaghetti hoops out of a can, then Musk amplifies their nonsense to his 193 million followers. That then spreads like wildfire.

Yousaf, born in Rutherglen, is the son of parents who immigrated from Pakistan. He has urged people in Scotland to demonstrate peacefully against racism and bigotry. He launched a scathing attack on Tommy Robinson who has been accused of instigating riots in England that have seen attempts to burn immigrants alive in hotels, cars overturned in the street and mobs attacking police.

Yousaf said: “Tommy Robinson is a hate preacher and should be treated the way other hate preachers are. He is a convicted criminal and before Musk provided him with a platform his reach was dwindling. I feel sorry for his followers, he is taking them for fools. Glasgow has a very strong tradition of opposing racism. I support anybody who wants to peacefully stand up and say this city is our city.”

Yousaf, however, said he did not believe X should be shut down in the UK. The former first minister’s comments come as his successor urged social media companies to tackle “dangerous” disinformation on their platforms.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, First Minister John Swinney said: “I think the social media companies have got a lot of improvement to undertake in their conduct. I was very struck by the communication of Ofcom yesterday, reminding social media companies of their obligation to remove material that incites hatred or violence. I don’t think that’s been the case.”

He pointed to rumours surrounding a stabbing in Stirling which reported three women had been attacked by a Muslim man, forcing Police Scotland to take the rare step of announcing the man arrested was white and from the local area, while only one woman was injured. The case was promoted on social media by English Defence League (EDL) founder Tommy Robinson.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also said social media companies were not yet fulfilling their duty to prevent the spread of hatred. It comes after he joined other Holyrood party leaders at Bute House to be briefed on the situation by Swinney on Wednesday.

Musk has posted a number of images and memes stoking division around the anti-immigration protests and disorder in Britain, as well as recently reposting an image of a fake news headline about the UK’s response to riots.

Musk and Ms Simon have since both deleted their posts, but not before Musk’s post was seen by hundreds of thousands of his followers – of which he has 193 million – and other users.

Musk has been heavily criticised in recent days for a number of posts about the disorder in the wake of the Southport stabbings and was called “deeply irresponsible” by Justice Secretary Heidi Alexander for posting that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK.

Both X and Musk have come under increased scrutiny since the businessman took over the site in late 2022, with the billionaire himself engaging with misleading content and accounts known for spreading misinformation on a number of occasions. He recently reposted a misleading video of US vice president Kamala Harris that had been manipulated by AI and has previously engaged with accounts known to have spread misinformation on a number of topics, including Covid-19 and vaccine safety.

His approach to running the platform has been heavily criticised after he substantially cut staff numbers and changed the site’s verification and content moderation systems, saying he wanted to allow “absolute free speech”. Under Musk’s leadership, the company has also restored the accounts of many figures previously banned for breaking site rules around hate speech, including some from the UK such as Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – and Katie Hopkins.

Since then, many users claim to have seen an increase in misinformation and hateful content, as well as pornography and spam posts and accounts, despite Musk claiming he would “defeat the bots” after taking over the company. Musk’s actions have led to calls for harsher punishments to be levelled at social media platforms and their managers for allowing harmful content to spread.

The UK’s Online Safety Act, which passed into law last year but is yet to be enacted fully, could see the biggest platforms facing billions of pounds in fines if they do not comply with the new rules, with criminal liability for named managers a possibility in some instances, as is the potential for sites to have their access limited in the most severe cases.

As race riots took place in English towns last week Met police chief Mark Rowley warned “keyboard warriors” offences of incitement and stirring up racial hatred will be prosecuted, with several people already handed jail terms. Musk, 53, who controls Tesla and SpaceX and is estimated to be worth £200billion, has also attacked Keir Starmer and UK immigration policy. His championing of far right politics and sharing of controversial, often false, material on X has seen advertisers abandon the platform. He also declared support for the Republicans in the US presidential race, will interview Donald Trump on X on Monday.