Elon Musk deletes X post sharing fake headline on UK riots and Keir Starmer

Elon Musk has deleted a post sharing a fake headline claiming Keir Starmer was considering building "detainment camps" on the Falkland Islands for rioters.

The billionaire X owner shared a 'screenshot' of the article, posted by the co-leader of the far-right group Britain First, to his 193million followers on the social media platform.

The fake Daily Telegraph headline read: "Keir Starmer considering building 'emergency detainment camps' on the Falkland Islands." The sub-heading added: "The camps would be used to detain prisoners from the ongoing riots as the British prison system is already at capacity".

But the publisher later said: "The Telegraph is aware of an image circulating on X which purports to be a Telegraph article about 'emergency detainment camps'. No such article has ever been published by the Telegraph."

It comes after the Tesla chief was criticised by Downing Street on Monday after he claimed "civil war is inevitable" in response to scenes of violent disorder in the UK.

The PM's official spokesman said there was "no justification" for Mr Musk's comments. They added on Monday: "We're talking about a minority of thugs that do not speak for Britain and in response to it, we've seen some of the best of our communities coming out and cleaning up the mess and disruption."

The X owner then responded to a post by the PM which said the Government will "not tolerate attacks on mosques or Muslim communities". In the past week, mosques have been targeted by far-right mobs while hotels housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and Tamworth were attacked at the weekend. But Mr Musk said: "Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?".

Mr Musk, who bought X, formerly Twitter, back in 2022, has also published a stream of posts on the unrest in the UK. He also branded the PM “two-tier Keir” in reference to accusations of “two-tier policing” in Britain, which the PM has rejected.

Earlier this week, Mr Starmer stressed his “sole focus” is on keeping communities in Britain safe when asked if he was worried about Mr Musk’s influence. The PM spoke about meeting officers in Southport who had been the first responders to the “terrible attack that happened” and were later subjected to violence on the streets by far-right thugs.I think it’s very important for us all to support the police in what they're doing,” he said.