Elon Musk to summon British lawmakers to US because of THIS reason

Billionaire Elon Musk has said that British Parliamentarians would be summoned to the United States (US) to explain their censorship and threats to American citizens.

Musk made the above remark while responding to a report by The Guardian on Wednesday (Nov 20) which said that the Commons’ Science and Technology Select Committee would call him to give evidence in the new year in its inquiry into the spread of harmful content on social media after the August riots (in the UK).

The Guardian reported that the committee's chair Chi Onwurah wanted to see how Musk would reconcile "his promotion of freedom of expression with his promotion of pure disinformation."

Musk's social media platform X hosts handles of controversial figures who were accused of inciting people to join the riots.

Musk responds

Musk responded by saying the MPs would be summoned to the US. He has previously complained that prison sentences handed down to people who stoked the riots on X are a breach of free speech rights.

Also read | UK riots: Who are far-right groups organising over Telegram, Facebook, X, TikTok? What you should know

“I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted paedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts,” he added, The Guardian reported.

What were the riots in the UK?

Riots erupted at anti-immigration protests in towns and cities across the UK in August, with attacks by far-right groups on hotels housing asylum seekers and mosques.

On July 29, three girls aged between six and nine were killed during an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event for children in the seaside town of Southport, in northern England.

Police arrested a 17-year-old boy and false information circulated on social media that the suspect was an Islamist migrant, which led to violent anti-Muslim protests in Southport the following day and an attempt to attack the town's mosque.

The teenager has since been charged with murder and attempted murder. Police said he was born in Britain and have not treated the attack as terrorism, a report by the news agency Reuters said.

Riots were reported in more than 20 places across the country, and over 1,000 people were arrested.

(With inputs from agencies)