Elon Musk recently became the world’s first trillionaire, but the owner of SpaceX, Tesla and X is being called out not just for his wealth accumulation but for how he uses his social media platform. Specifically, Musk is being partially blamed for stoking the flames of a series of anti-immigrant riots that have broken out in Northern Ireland.

Anti-immigrant riots in Belfast follow viral video of attack by Sudanese refugee

The city of Belfast has seen xenophobic riots specifically targeting Black immigrants in the capital of Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

The anti-immigrant violence came in response to a viral video that appears to show a Black man, believed to be an immigrant, brutally attacking a white Irish man and appearing to attempt to behead him with a knife.

Thirty-year-old Hadi Alodid, originally from Sudan but granted asylum to live in the United Kingdom, was arrested for the attack and has been charged with several crimes, including attempted murder.

The victim, Stephen Ogilvie, reportedly lost an eye and suffered deep cuts to his face from the attack.

After video of the attack was posted on social media last Monday, online comments targeting immigrants led to rioters attacking vehicles and immigrants’ homes, including various incidents of arson.

As inflammatory social media posts are being blamed for stoking the violence in Belfast, Musk has repeatedly posted and reshared such posts to his 240 million followers on X.

This includes sharing a post by controversial British anti-immigrant activist Tommy Robinson declaring that Brits were “hitting the streets tonight at 7 p.m. following yet another invader attack on our people.”

Musk shared the post with his own caption: “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!“