Elon Musk turns X into megaphone for Islamophobia, anti-immigration hysteria, Israeli propaganda

By Ivan Kesic

Elon Musk, the self-styled "free speech absolutist" and owner of the X platform, has systematically weaponized his vast digital influence to propagate a dangerous cocktail of anti-immigration hysteria and blatant Islamophobia.

His recent virtual outbursts are not mere isolated provocations but a calculated descent into the rhetoric of the far-right, leveraging his platform to vilify marginalized communities and align himself with the most toxic elements of the global political spectrum.

This behavior is seen as a betrayal of his stated principles, revealing a figure eager to inflame social divisions for personal and political gain, all while providing a smokescreen for wrongs done around the world, particularly in the context of Muslims.

His transformation of X into a hub for hate speech, according to netizens, demands a critical examination, particularly his role in amplifying Israeli propaganda amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Musk’s foray into explicit anti-immigration fearmongering has seen him embrace the core tenets of the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory, a white supremacist narrative that alleges a plot to dilute and replace white European populations through immigration.

“Any government driving destruction of its own people is not legitimate,” he wrote recently, a statement that frames immigration as an existential threat to national sovereignty.

This was followed by even more incendiary claims, such as “A government that puts foreigners above their own people is, by definition, TREASONOUS and ILLEGITIMATE!” and the assertion that “The goal is obviously long-term settlement to import voters.”

These posts are not nuanced policy discussions, netizens say, but direct amplifications of a conspiracy theory that has inspired mass shootings and is considered by the American Jewish Committee to be “the deadliest antisemitic conspiracy theory in modern US history.”

By lending his social media platform to this toxic ideology, Musk has been slammed for providing it with a veneer of mainstream acceptability, pushing a narrative that has real-world consequences for violence and discrimination against immigrant communities.

His engagement with Islamophobia is equally deliberate and damaging, which is designed to tar an entire faith of two billion people with the brush of violence and cultural incompatibility.

Musk recently commented on the UK’s grooming gangs scandal by stating, “Those who support the policies that enable the abuse of children should be utterly shamed and shunned,” and “If one immigrates to any given country, they must respect the laws and culture of that country,” selectively targeting Pakistani Muslim communities while ignoring broader contexts of child abuse.

He further distilled his intolerance into a chilling maxim: “If tolerance means the end of Western Civilization, then we cannot be tolerant.”

This rhetoric, netizens believe, reduces the complex tapestry of a global religion to a monolithic threat, fueling the very anti-Muslim racism that community leaders like Miqdaad Versi of the Muslim Council of Britain warned would be fanned by his words.

Scholars like Omar Suleiman have explicitly called out Musk for blowing “every conceivable dog whistle of Islamophobia,” highlighting how his selective outrage misrepresents Islam as inherently violent.

A particularly insidious aspect of Musk’s activity on X is his routine amplification of accounts run by Israeli propagandists who impersonate Lebanese, Palestinians, and others.

These accounts, often posing as authentic voices, parrot talking points that absolve the Israeli regime of its genocidal war crimes in Gaza and attack legitimate Palestinian resistance and journalism.

By sharing their content to his more than a hundred million followers, Musk launders their disinformation through his own credibility, granting a massive audience to bad-faith actors whose entire purpose is to create a false perception of regional support for Israeli militarism.

This practice is a cornerstone of modern information warfare, and Musk’s complicity in it makes him a direct participant in a campaign to distort reality and silence genuine Palestinian and Muslim voices.

The criticism of Musk’s actions has been swift and severe, though it is often dismissed or met with further attacks from his platform.

Organizations like the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) have documented how X under Musk’s ownership has become a “safe space for racists,” with 98% of flagged hate speech remaining on the platform.

Academics like Marc Owen Jones have rightly labeled X a “far-right haven” under his leadership. British politicians, from UK Justice Minister Heidi Alexander to Labour MP Jess Phillips, have condemned his interference in UK politics and his dangerous spreading of lies that risk civil unrest.

The Muslim Council of Britain has consistently called out his “harmful dog-whistling,” noting that even his less overt posts subtly perpetuate harmful stereotypes, painting a picture of a man who has abandoned any pretense of responsible leadership in favor of stoking the flames of cultural war.

As the world witnesses a live-streamed genocide and man-made famine in Gaza, with a death toll exceeding 64,500 Palestinians, Musk’s focus on grooming gangs in the UK and voter importation conspiracies is believed to be meticulously timed.

It redirects the global conversation away from Israeli war crimes and the complicity of Western governments, including his own role in the Trump administration, and towards manufactured culture war issues.

This is a classic tactic of deflection, and Musk’s platform is the perfect vehicle for it, many argue. By dominating the news cycle with his inflammatory tweets, he effectively drowns out the cries for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid, providing invaluable cover for the ongoing slaughter.

His silence on the genocide in Gaza is deafening, while his megaphone is turned up to eleven on issues that serve to divide Western publics and direct their anger towards vulnerable minorities.

Musk’s virtual outbursts are far from the random musings of a quirky billionaire. They are a coordinated and dangerous deployment of hate speech that aligns perfectly with the objectives of far-right movements and Israeli propaganda.

His promotion of the Great Replacement theory, his blatant Islamophobia, and his amplification of fraudulent accounts all serve a common purpose: to fracture solidarity, demonize the other, and obscure the horrific realities of power.

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