Three children were murdered in Southport on 29 July 2024. Within hours, false claims that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker who had arrived by small boat were circulating on X. Over the following week, mosques were attacked and hotels housing asylum seekers were set on fire in towns across England and Northern Ireland.
On the sixth day, the owner of X posted that civil war in Britain was inevitable. This page sets out what he posted, in what order, and how the government responded.
What happened, and what was falsely claimed
On 29 July 2024 a man attacked a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, near Liverpool. Three girls, aged between six and nine, were killed. Others were injured.
Rumours about the attacker’s identity spread online within hours. An incorrect name circulated widely enough that police issued a public warning about it. The claim that took hold was that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker who had reached Britain by small boat.
None of that was true. The suspect, Axel Rudakubana, was 17 and had been born in Britain, reportedly to parents from Rwanda. He had not arrived on a small boat crossing. He was subsequently prosecuted; the outcome of those criminal proceedings is not covered on this page.
Posts carrying the false claims accumulated millions of interactions on X before they were corrected.
The disorder
Violence spread over the following week. Rioters clashed with police in Southport, Sunderland, Hull, Halifax, Liverpool, Manchester, London, Rotherham and Belfast. Cars were set alight, shops looted, and bricks thrown at officers. Mosques were attacked, and the government was obliged to provide emergency security to Islamic centres. Hotels housing asylum seekers were set on fire in Manvers, near Rotherham, and in Tamworth.
More than 1,800 arrests followed. The Prime Minister said those involved, online and offline, would feel the full force of the law.
What Musk posted
Elon Musk“Civil war is inevitable.”
After Starmer said the government would not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities, Musk replied:
Elon Musk“Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on all communities?”
Not the first time
The Independent noted at the time that the 4 August post marked the sixth occasion since October 2023 on which Musk had claimed civil war was brewing in Europe.
He repeated the prediction again in July 2026, telling The Economist that a reckoning was coming and that civil war in Britain was the position on the current trend. And in September 2025 he told a rally of more than 100,000 people in London that violence was coming to them and they must fight back or die.
The government’s response
Downing Street rejected the post directly:
Spokesperson for the Prime Minister“There’s no justification for comments like that… We’re talking about a minority of thugs that do not speak for Britain.”
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander called on Musk to act responsibly. Peter Kyle, the science and technology secretary, told social media companies they had a responsibility to stop the spread of hateful disinformation and incitement. Starmer himself declined to answer reporters’ questions about Musk’s comments at a briefing.
What this page does not claim
It does not say Elon Musk caused the riots. The disorder began before his intervention, was driven by false claims he did not originate, and involved thousands of people who made their own decisions. No investigation, inquiry or court has attributed the violence to him.
Much of the contemporaneous coverage used words like “stoked”, “fuelled” and “helped fuel”. Those are characterisations, and this site does not adopt them. What is documented is narrower: what he posted, when, to how many, and what the government said about it.
It does not treat “civil war is inevitable” as a call for one. It is framed as a prediction. Whether a prediction of that kind, from that platform, at that moment, functions as something more is a question readers are equipped to consider — and it is a question, not a finding.
Outstanding on this page
None of the posts here have been archived by us and all should be captured. The exact wording and date of the Tommy Robinson exchange and the Farage reply should be confirmed against the posts themselves. The false name circulated after the attack is deliberately not reproduced. The outcome of the criminal proceedings against the man convicted of the Southport murders should be documented separately, with primary sources.
Sources
- UK slams Elon Musk for ‘civil war’ comments on far-right riotsFrance 24 · 7 August 2024 · Heidi Alexander response
- Why is Elon Musk clashing with Keir Starmer over UK’s far-right riots?Al Jazeera · 8 August 2024 · the post’s context, Downing Street reply
- Musk, UK government spar over far-right riotsCourthouse News / AFP · 6 August 2024 · the suspect’s background, mosque attacks
- Downing Street condemns Elon Musk for claim ‘civil war is inevitable’The Independent via AOL · the sixth-time count, affected towns
- How Elon Musk stoked the fire of the UK’s far-right anti-immigrant riotsTruthout · 16 August 2024 · “attacks on all communities”, two-tier policing claims
- Elon Musk says ‘civil war is inevitable’ as UK rocked by far-right riotsCNN Business · 6 August 2024 · government statements, Peter Kyle
- Elon Musk claims ‘civil war is inevitable’ in the UK after days of riotingPA via Yahoo News UK · the Robinson exchange, police warning on the false name
- How Elon Musk helped fuel the U.K.’s far-right riotsRolling Stone · 31 October 2024 · the Farage exchange
This article follows the standards set out in How This Site Sources Its Claims. If you believe anything on this page is inaccurate, please use our corrections policy and right of reply. Corrections are published, dated and logged.