ZACK Polanski told Elon Musk to “pipe down” after the tech billionaire branded the Green politician a “scumbag and a traitor”.
The Green leader was applauded for his response to Musk’s insults after the pair got into an online spat about racist riots the Twitter/X owner has been accused of having helped to whip up.
In response to Musk’s claim that it was “murderous migrants beheading innocent people in their home town” that was “making people angry” and not social media, Polanski said: “This man is a threat to our democracy. He backs violence and extremism. Blaming a group of people for the awful actions of an individual leads us to a very dark place.”
Pointing the finger at Musk, Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, Polanski added: “These men don't give a shit about this country, they want to rip us apart.”
In response to a comment under the Green politician’s post accusing him of not giving “a shit about the real citizens of the country”, Musk replied: “Yes, he is a scumbag and traitor.”
Polanski reposted Musk’s comment, saying: “Elon Musk can say what he likes about me but I won't stay silent whilst foreign tech billionaires, money earned off the backs of real workers, try to interfere in our democracy, incite violence in our communities and tear apart our country. Time for him to pipe down.”
Social media users praised the Green leader for his response to Musk, with one Twitter/X user saying: “Huge props to Zack for standing up to Musk's taunts and calling out his far-right, divisive rhetoric that he is deliberately sowing to tear our country apart.”
Others pointed out that Musk’s post was “ratioed” meaning that it received far more replies – generally taken to be representative of criticism – than likes.
One said: “Zack just ratioed the richest man in the world on his own platform. Elon won't cope well with this.”
Musk has been accused of helping to incite violent riots through his social media platform, which he bought for $44 billion in 2022.
At Prime Minister’s Questions this week, LibDem leader Ed Davey said: “Too many times we see the same pattern, an appalling crime that makes us all feel immense pain and anger, and then extremists who exploit that grief and anger to spread hatred and violence, aided and abetted by social media barons like Elon Musk and their divisive algorithms.”
Riots erupted throughout Northern Ireland and in Glasgow this week after the alleged attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvy by a Sudanese man.
