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In a report in 2020, the US media described the summer of 2020 as the "summer of digital protests". At that time, the killing of George Floyd, an African American man in the United States, became the fuse for a series of large-scale protests. Throughout the summer, American social platforms were filled with various forms of protests. "Online activism" was intertwined with offline activities, forming a massive social movement in the United States.

Four years later, social platforms have played a key role in the current protests in the UK, Venezuela, Kenya and Bangladesh, and the advancement of related technologies has further highlighted the role of "digital protests". Among them, Musk and his X are undoubtedly the protagonists.

According to media reports on August 9, local time on the 8th, Venezuelan President Maduro signed a resolution to ban X for 10 days nationwide, and accused the owner of X, Tesla founder Musk, of inciting hatred, civil war and death. Previously, the Venezuelan National Electoral Commission announced on July 29 that the current President Maduro was re-elected president, triggering thousands of Venezuelan people to protest.

At the same time, the British government also called on Musk to act responsibly, criticizing him and the X platform for inciting and fueling the violent riots sweeping the country. Triggered by a knife attack in Southport, northwest England on July 29, large-scale anti-immigration protests broke out in many parts of the UK recently, causing headaches for the newly elected British Labour Party government.

What exactly did Musk and X, who was labeled "inciting hatred, civil war, and death" and "inciting violent riots," do during the protests?

The UK riots started with "fake news on social media platforms"

US media reported on August 7 that social platforms played an important role in fueling the anti-immigrant riots that swept through British towns.

The protests in the UK began with a false message posted on a social platform, claiming that the suspect in an attack that killed three children was a Muslim asylum seeker, which aroused the anger of the British people about immigration policies. The police's refutation of the rumor failed to calm the situation, and the riots broke out. According to the Associated Press, the first to post the false suspect information was an account claiming to be a news channel on the X platform.

According to CNN and Al Jazeera, the day after the attack, the suspect's pseudonym, which was changed to look like a Muslim name, was mentioned more than 30,000 times by 18,000 independent accounts, and there were at least 27 million pieces of information on social platforms about the suspect being a Muslim, immigrant, refugee or foreigner. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a British think tank, pointed out that the platform algorithms of social platforms may have contributed to the spread of false information.

The British far right took the opportunity to use social platforms to post inflammatory messages. On August 6, Tommy Robinson, an anti-Islam activist with 800,000 followers, posted on X, claiming that Islam is a "mental health issue" rather than a religion. He said: "Hostile, violent, aggressive Islamic immigrants are replacing British nationals... Your children are not important to (the Labour government)." At the same time, far-right MP Nigel Farage posted a one-minute video on X, questioning whether the police who said the attack was "terrorist-related" were telling the truth.

Musk, who is outspoken

Of course, there are far more social platforms than X, but Musk and his X are undoubtedly the most unique one among them.

On August 4, Musk posted on X that "civil war is inevitable" in the UK. The British government condemned Musk's remarks the next day, but Musk stepped up his criticism of the British government after being condemned. On August 6, Musk posted a video of the bar attack on X and directly questioned the British Prime Minister: "Why aren't all communities protected, Keir Starmer?" Later that day, he also posted an emoticon of a cartoon character tied to an electric chair, and compared the scene to the punishment for posting opinions on the British Internet in 2030.

On the other side of the world, in Venezuela, the new president Maduro temporarily banned X, partly because of Musk's outspokenness on X. After the controversial election results in Venezuela were announced, Musk called it a "fraud" and compared Maduro to a donkey. On July 31, local time, Musk posted on the X platform that he accepted Maduro's "duel". The post read: "If I win, he will resign as the Venezuelan 'dictator'; if he wins, I will send him to Mars for free."

In addition, under Musk's leadership, X also relaxed its content review policy and restored the accounts of some controversial figures that had been frozen, including Tommy Robinson. In 2018, before Musk acquired Twitter (the predecessor of X), Robinson was banned from Twitter for violating the platform's terms for managing hateful behavior.

UK vows to crack down on 'online crime'

The British government reportedly vowed this week to crack down on "online crime" and has pushed social platform companies to take action to curb the spread of false information.

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on the 5th that social platforms are not only spreading false information, but also inciting violence. She said, "This is a complete disgrace, and we can't go on like this." On the same day, the British Communications Authority (Ofcom) also issued a statement, listing the solution to illegal content online as a "major priority."

In response to Musk's remarks on the X platform, British Justice Minister Heidi Alexander said on the 6th that Musk's use of the word "civil war" was completely unacceptable. He said: "I think every platform owner should exercise their rights responsibly." At the cabinet meeting on the same day, British Prime Minister Starmer said that those who participated in the rebellion online or offline would feel the "full force of the law."

The report said that social platform companies have long struggled to implement their own internal policies prohibiting hate speech and incitement to violence, but Isabelle Frances-Wright, a technical expert at ISD, said: "The problem has always been execution. Especially in times of crisis and conflict, when there is a huge peak in posting, the already fragile content review system of social platforms seems to fall apart."

In 2023, the UK passed the Online Safety Act, which imposed a series of new obligations on social platforms and criminalized the posting of false information "intended to cause serious harm" online, but the bill did not officially come into effect until 2025. According to a BBC report on the 8th, the UK Communications Authority has issued an open letter to major social platforms, saying that they should not wait until the Online Safety Act comes into effect before taking action.

In July, the Oxford Internet Institution published an article outlining the online safety challenges facing the newly-appointed Labour government. The article argues that in addition to regulating technology companies, media or digital literacy education should be a core pillar of online safety strategies. The article states that education for Internet users, especially the younger generation, should be strengthened, and all children should be provided with appropriate education on the risks and opportunities of digital technology to encourage them to use digital media responsibly.

“Summer of Digital Protest” 2.0?

Since this summer, protests and riots have occurred in many parts of the world, and social platforms represented by X have played a very important role in them.

In addition to the UK and Venezuela, large-scale protests also took place in Kenya and Bangladesh this summer. On June 25, the Kenyan National Assembly voted to pass the 2024 fiscal bill, which explicitly levied additional taxes to raise funds to repay debts, triggering a series of subsequent protests. According to a previous report by the US "Signal" news agency, Kenyans, who are mainly Generation Z, organized protests on social platforms such as X and Tiktok, and used social platform live broadcasts and other functions to coordinate and mobilize the protests. They also used social platforms to raise medical and funeral expenses for injured and deceased protesters. The protests in Kenya have not yet subsided.

Social media platforms are also the protagonists of the protests in Bangladesh. On August 5, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned. According to the Global Times, protest representatives proposed the establishment of an interim government led by Yunus, and the president agreed. Indian media reported on August 6 that the main reason for the escalation of protests in Bangladesh was social media platforms. Social media platforms provide an excellent place for the organization, coordination and spread of protests. According to reports, before the Bangladeshi authorities took action, social media platforms were flooded with tens of thousands of protest videos.