German state media has accused Tesla trillionaire Elon Musk and anti-grooming gang activist Tommy Robinson of calling for the “hunting” of migrants in the wake of an alleged asylum seeker beheading attempt in Belfast.
Tuesday’s edition of German public broadcaster ZDF flagship programme ‘Today Live’ argued that the backlash to footage of a Sudanese asylum seeker allegedly attempting to cut a man’s head off in Northern Ireland earlier this month was a result of malign actors from abroad on social media, signalling out Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson in particular.
Introducing the segment, presenter Christina v. Ungern-Sternberg said: “A brutal attempted murder on a public street in Belfast. Someone films it; the video goes viral. A racist mob subsequently hunts down migrants. Calls for this had come from a British right-wing extremist and tech billionaire Elon Musk. The pattern isn’t new.”
Not only did the German public broadcaster fail to provide any evidence that either Musk or Robinson had called for the violent targeting of migrants, as was seen in some cases during the Belfast riots, ZDF also appeared to undermine their entire argument with the posts they cited as evidence of incietment.
Indeed, in one of the only posts highlighted by the broadcaster, veteran street organiser Tommy Robinson said: “The whole of the United Kingdom is hitting the streets tonight at 7pm following yet another invader attack on our people.”
This post was accompanied with a list of various protests, which featured the call for people to remain: “Peaceful. Respectful. Together.”
The post was shared by Musk, who added: “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!”
There does not appear to be any evidence that either men called for violence of any kind in response to the brutal attack in Belfast. Nevertheless, the half-hour ZDF programme was nearly all dedicated to the supposed negative influence played by Musk and Robinson.
The German broadcaster brought on Ciarán O’Connor of the Soros-backed Institute for Strategic Dialogue as an expert on the matter. O’Connor said that Musk has taken an increasing interest in spreading anti-immigration content over the past five years, saying that he uses his large platform on X to boost local stories to the international level.
While not directly accusing Musk of calling for hunting down migrants as the ZDF presenter did, the ISD commentator noted that social media was used to spread addresses of properties linked to migrants or to asylum seeker accommodation for the purpose of targeting certain groups.
“We see the same pattern, the same playbook, time and again: tragic incidents occur, or tensions flare up over crime, and social media platforms are used in real-time to call on people to protest or simply to take action. And there is also a clear call for violence and an encouragement of violent reactions,” he said.
O’Connor said that British and European regulators should put pressure on social media platforms to police so-called “disinformation” and to establish a crisis protocol to prevent the algorithmic amplification of certain news items.
However, it may be ZDF that faces consequences, with Stuttgart City Councillor for the AfD Tino Strussenberg filing a police complaint against the broadcaster for allegedly defaming Musk and Robinson.
It is not the first time that ZDF has been accused of spreading its own disinformation, with the public broadcaster having to issue a retraction last year after ZDF Washington correspondent Elmar Theveßen falsely claimed that assassinated Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk had called for homosexuals to be “stoned to death”, when in reality the slain American activist was merely quoting a bible passage.
Others on ZDF also attempted to denigrate Kirk after his death, including Today Live host Dunja Hayali, who asserted that his political positions were “too radical, too racist, too misanthropic, misogynistic, and dehumanising.”