Elon Musk boosted a falsehood from a far-right Twitter account about a couple who pleaded guilty to violent disorder on X (formerly Twitter), which gained millions of views on the platform.
Credit: X/@elonmusk
The disinformation came via Peter Imanuelsen (PeterSweden7), who, according to academic research at the University of Oslo, is “a well-known far-right voice in Sweden” on 31 August before Musk quoted the post a day later and captioned it “wow”.
Imanuelsen, who made historic antisemitic and Holocaust denial tweets before renouncing them later, has also been called out for misinformation on environmental issues and pro-meat issues. Other articles looked in-depth at their propensity for conspiracy theories and spreading falsehoods online. In 2022, Jewish News highlighted the outrage Imanuelsen’s appearance on GB News generated. Academics have also explored how a far-right subnetwork that included tweets from Imanuelsen undermined the integrity of Sweden’s voting system in 2018.
In reality, Ciaran Lockett, 34, pleaded guilty to violent disorder after admitting to hurling projectiles, including rocks, towards a mosque and police officers in Stoke-on-Trent on 3 August, which his partner Deana Evans filmed as far-right rioters took part in disorder and violence in Hanley, the prosecution outlined.
Both attempted to block a police van (requiring officers to physically remove them after they refused to step away from the vehicle), and both shouted at officers, “You are all protecting nonces” and “We want our country back.”
The pair continued to target officers during the disorder, requiring the use of riot shields to push them back, according to Staffordshire Police.
When officers tracked the couple to their home address, Deana Evans assaulted an officer by elbowing them in the chest after they attempted to seize her mobile phone, and she continued to resist arrest.
Evans pleaded guilty to violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker, receiving a 20-month prison sentence.
Ciaran Lockett received a 34-month prison sentence after entering a guilty plea for violent disorder.
Judge Graeme Smith told the couple: “The seriousness of the offence means appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.”
The headline in the StokeOnTrentLive, however, did not refer to their guilty pleas for violent disorder as it read, “Couple chanting ‘we want our country back’ jailed after Hanley riots.”
We have previously highlighted how the far-right and others are weaponising misleading headlines on social media.
Nor is the first such example back in March, when Musk boosted a similar falsehood posted from the PeterSweden7 account. The falsehood read: “Britain just jailed a man for 2 years for the crime of posting stickers opposing mass migration. Free speech has been banned in Britain.” To which Musk replied, “!!”.
Again, in reality, white supremacist Samuel Melia was guilty of creating a library of downloadable racist and white supremacist stickers and received a two-year prison sentence. He was found guilty of publishing or distributing material intending to stir up racial hatred and encouraging the commission of the offence of racially aggravated criminal damage between 2019 and 2021.
Judge Tom Bayliss KC told Melia: “I am quite sure that your mindset is that of a racist and a white supremacist.”
Elon Musk has engaged with Peter Imanuelsen numerous times on X.
Last month, Musk deleted a post promoting far-right disinformation about the creation of “detainment camps”.