Opinion

Musk, the world’s richest man, is also perhaps its most dangerous promoter of hatred

Elon Musk, CEO of X (formerly known as Twitter) speaks during a live interview with Ben Shapiro at the symposium on fighting antisemitism in Krakow, Poland on January 22, 2024 [Stringer – Anadolu Agency]

by Nasim Ahmed
Nasimbythedocks
MEMO
December 23, 2024

In Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film Dr Strangelove, the world teeters on the edge of nuclear annihilation, not because of some grand strategic masterstroke by a villain, but due to paranoia, hubris and the failure to interrogate our own assumptions. The war room is filled with men so consumed by ideology and self-interest that they can’t see the absurdity of their actions. Today, this same toxic cocktail of arrogance and fear is magnified by the wildfire spread of misinformation on social media, moving unobstructed and unchecked across platforms, fuelling division and paranoia on an unprecedented scale.

If Dr Strangelove taught us anything, it’s that human folly and fear often pose a greater threat than any external enemy. The conspiratorial reaction to the Magdeburg Christmas attack, where far-right commentators clung to absurd theories about hidden Islamist motives, shows how easily paranoia supplants reality. This kind of thinking doesn’t just warp the truth; it also deepens divisions and sows the seeds of society’s collapse.





Kubrick’s world may have ended with a mushroom cloud, but ours could unravel through ideological warfare and the erosion of any common ground.

While the generals in the movie wielded bombs, today’s purveyors of chaos wield something equally destructive: information; or, rather, disinformation. Enter Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, whose ownership of social media platform X has turned it into a breeding ground for conspiracies and hate. Musk has emerged as a tech mogul as well as a megaphone for the far right and its anti-Muslim hysteria. When theories about “taqiyya” — whereby an individual may be less than fully truthful when faced with imminent death — and the Magdeburg attacker’s supposed Islamist motives began spreading, it wasn’t fringe extremists driving the narrative, it was Musk himself, amplifying baseless claims to his millions of followers.

We need to ask if Elon Musk, with his unparalleled reach and influence, is now the world’s most dangerous man. His platform has become a battleground for disinformation and bigotry, pushing a culture war that fuels massive division, hatred and societal upheaval. Like the bumbling yet hubristic leaders in Kubrick’s satire, Musk’s actions suggest a reckless disregard for the social consequences of his power. Instead of challenging disinformation, he validates it. Instead of promoting accountability, he champions chaos. The fallout of this behaviour may not be nuclear, but it’s no less devastating, with the potential to create a society fractured by lies and primed for conflict.

Musk’s influence in shaping public narratives is not confined to fringe conspiracies, it actively shapes the agenda of the far-right, both online and in the corridors of power. In the aftermath of the Magdeburg attack, the far-right across Europe seized the moment to push anti-immigrant and Islamophobic rhetoric. Figures like Geert Wilders, Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen pounced on the tragedy, framing it as emblematic of the dangers of migration and Islam in Europe.

Frantic tweets and reposts by Musk amplified the far-right’s narrative and gave it greater legitimacy.

His reposts and commentary linked him directly to the surging political momentum of groups like Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has leveraged similar events to galvanise its anti-immigrant base ahead of elections. “Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk tweeted, cementing his role as a megaphone for far-right rhetoric during what appeared to be a public meltdown as facts about the attacker began to emerge, facts that contradicted his chosen narrative.

Initially, Musk and the far-right narrative machine pinned the blame squarely on Muslims, painting the terrorist as an Islamist waging war against European civilisation. But when it became evident that the attacker was, in fact, an ex-Muslim who hated Islam and Muslims, they turned to railing against migration as the root cause. Even then, they doubled down, asserting that the attacker must still be a Muslim, practicing the supposed deception of “taqiyya”.

So desperate was the anti-Muslim mob to pin the blame for the terror attack on Muslims that they began circulating videos purportedly showing the attacker allegedly shouting “Allahu Akbar” during his arrest. Influential accounts, reposted regularly by Musk, claimed that the phrase was “clearly audible” in the video fragments they shared. Yet this claim was swiftly debunked by native speakers and independent experts, who confirmed that the exchange in the video was entirely in German and devoid of any such chant. Despite the evidence, the false narrative persisted.

One viral tweet mocked the absurdity of the claim, saying: “I love that people would think he’s just yelling Allahu Akbar (he’s shouting alles klar) as a response to instructions by the police. ‘Put your hands up’ — ‘Allahu Akbar.’ ‘Do you have a weapon?’ — ‘Allahu Akbar.’ Next ppl will be saying he said derka derka jihad.”

Despite the clear debunking of the “Allahu Akbar” claims, Musk, unwilling to accept that the terrorist was motivated by Islamophobia, instead propagated the far-right conspiracy theory that the perpetrator was practicing “taqiyya” and that he was secretly a Muslim pretending to be an atheist. Musk shared a video making this very claim. The video, which has since gone viral, posits absurdly that the attacker was lying about his ex-Muslim status and was actually a covert Islamist executing a long-planned plot.

What Musk and his followers conveniently ignored was the emerging profile of the attacker. He was identified not only as an ex-Muslim Islamophobe but also as a supporter of Israel and an admirer of Musk himself, as well as other far-right extremist leaders. It is a glaring irony for an anti-Islam, pro-Musk individual to be labelled as a secret Islamist.

What does Islam actually say about taqiyya? The concept has been distorted grossly by Islamophobes. Although it is not found in the primary sources of Islam, the Qur’an and Ahadith, taqiyya permits an individual to conceal their beliefs to protect their life or wellbeing when facing extreme threats. Rooted in Islamic jurisprudence, it is a safeguard for survival, similar to the principle of necessity in English law or pikuach nefesh in Judaic law, which allows for the suspension of faith-based or legal rules to preserve life.

Historically, taqiyya was primarily a Shia practice, arising from minority status in Sunni-majority societies.

It is scarcely known or relevant to most Muslims.

However, it has been weaponised to portray Muslims as inherently deceitful, and thus fuelling Islamophobic narratives in the West.

The spread of disinformation following the Magdeburg attack highlights a troubling trend: a toxic mix of ignorance, prejudice and reckless promotion of anti-Muslim bigotry. While the far-right twisted the attack into a narrative about taqiyya and Islamist terrorism, the world’s richest man and perhaps its most influential source of misinformation has played a central role in legitimising and spreading falsehoods. Musk’s massive platform on X, coupled with his penchant for boosting Islamophobic voices, turned baseless conspiracies into trending topics, further deepening divisions and hatred in society.

As I wrote in a tweet:

“Hate for Muslims doesn’t care about facts: After the Magdeburg Christmas attack, the far-right is suffering major cognitive dissonance, spinning ludicrous conspiracies about ‘taqiyya.’ This, despite overwhelming evidence that the attacker was an ex-Muslim with anti-Islam motives and a strong advocate of Israel. The mental gymnastics are astounding. It’s funny, though — probably 90 per cent of Muslims have never even heard of ‘taqiyya,’ yet every Islamophobe can cite chapter and verse about it. Ironically, most Muslims who do know about taqiyya only learned about it because Islamophobes won’t stop spreading misinformation.”

Musk’s role in spreading misinformation goes beyond this single incident. His embrace of far-right narratives has turned X into a platform for hate, lending credibility to Islamophobes and extremists who peddle lies and conspiracy theories. By sharing debunked claims and engaging with notorious hate-mongers, he has helped to mainstream fringe ideas, making them harder to challenge.