Tensions between Elon Musk and the UK's ruling Labour Party have further escalated, with the X and Tesla CEO warning that British members of parliament would "be summoned to the United States of America to explain their censorship and threats to American citizens."
The man tapped to lead the yet-to-be established US Department of Government Efficiency made the comments in response to political pundit Ian Miles Cheong's claims on X that plans for a House of Commons select committee to summon the billionaire to testify were "a trap."
This crusade against Musk's free speech advocacy is unlikely to end well for the UK government. That 10 Downing St. has been increasingly hostile to civil rights is self-evident, and its failed attempts to shut down the ultra-popular tech pioneer is a bad look. Committees can threaten to summon him, and Labour activists can propose legal action all they like, but Musk has done nothing wrong in criticising Starmer's woke premiership.
Musk is only a champion of freedom of speech when it suits him, on the one hand spewing disinformation on his right-wing propaganda platform while on the other censoring pro-democracy dissidents on behalf of authoritarian states. It's clear that he went too far inciting unrest in the UK this summer. The UK must stand up to Musk and remind the tech mogul that, despite what he may think, his words do have consequences.