Mass rioting broke out across The UK last week as peaceful vigils, turned into mass dissent across the country following the tragic stabbings in Southport last July. Not only did they dominate National Headlines, but the rioting was reported worldwide prompting public statements of condemnation not just from the Prime Minister, But from The King. But the most surprising critic of these riots was Billionaire Elon Musk, who in a flurry of tweets posted on his media platform X (formerly Twitter), Musk criticised the handling over the riots by the UK Government, and likened the country to the Soviet Union, even going as far as say that Civil War was “Inevitable”.

The tweets were surprising, as whilst Musk is not unaccustomed to outbursts on his own platform, his interest in UK politics and current affairs have been downplayed compared to his prolific commentary on politics in the U.S, after emerging as one of Donal Trump’s biggest endorsers. And whilst Musk showed a liking to former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, even doing a televised meeting with him last year,  Musk’s interest in the UK has rarely gone beyond that of another market in which he can sell his wide canvas of companies and products.

So why now? What has prompted one of the richest and most influential man on the planet to take such a vested interest in British domestic troubles? The answer may not be surprising, but it comes down to money and vanity. 

Let’s backtrack for a minute and learn why Musk has become an increasingly vocal player in the political landscape. A huge legacy of Joe Biden’s administration will be his investment in infrastructure, specifically in making the U.S a global leader in reducing its carbon footprint. So when Ford and General Motors announced in 2022 they’d invest more into their electric vehicle (EV) programs, it was met with applause from the Biden Administration followed by Billions of dollars of investment from The Government over the next decade, whilst Musk, a trailblazer in the EV industry with his company Tesla, was left with little investment and no praise. This has meant that whilst Tesla still lead the EV industry in term of profit, Ford and General Motor’s long term growth and investment could challenge Musk’s dominant streak in the industry, as both brought in billions of dollars in operational profit only last quarter. For the first time in its short life, Tesla have found itself a competitive domestic rival in the EV industry. Hence why Musk has now invested in Trump’s presidential campaign, and with a $45 million a week allowance Musk must feel he’d be able to lobby government funding away from his competitors and back into Tesla as Trump has stated he’d have ‘no choice’ but to support the EV boom if he were elected.

And here lies Musk’s true course for taking shots at “Two Tier Kier”. Musk is seeking to profit from these rioters by reposting their violence as an example of what happens when you let a left leaning government take charge of a modern high-income country. And with the much more moderate Kamala Harris now leading Trump in the polls, you can see why Musk is throwing coal to the flames of misinformation. By taking examples from a well-respected country such as Britain and showing how close society is to collapse under a left-leaning government Musk is actively fearmongering millions of followers across the pond for his own financial benefit. He may know that the riots having nothing to do with government policy, rather they started due to misinformation started online over the ethnic identity of the Southport Stabber, however this is probably not something he would be willing to admit. And he’s not the only one to be profiting off this, as its now reported that EDL leader Tommy Robinson made £1.6 million through various company’s funded by his far-right activists, all of which have since been dissolved, making them untaxable. 

No one can take away the success of Elon Musk, he has had overwhelming triumph in almost every company he’s founded or taken over, but this does not give him a license to spoke fear and dissent purely for his own gain. Whilst he may be trying to brand himself some ‘free speech warrior’ who’s leading the charge against the ‘Woke Mob’, he is not doing so without financial benefit. It’s a lesson we need to continuously think about if we are to follow the advice of big players both in and outside of politics. Want to understand why people are motivated over certain issues? Follow the money and see where it goes.