Summary
Elon Musk’s relationship with the UK has soured as he increasingly criticizes the country, calling it a “tyrannical police state” and amplifying far-right rhetoric on his platform, X.
His actions, including spreading misinformation during the Southport riots and attacking the Online Safety Act, align with his libertarian, anti-“woke” views.
Musk’s interest in UK politics may stem from personal beliefs and potential business concerns, as the Act imposes substantial fines on platforms hosting illegal content.
Reports also suggest Musk may fund Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party to further his influence.
Are we still going to refer to them as Putin’s puppets, when the US has been angling for a while now to become the greatest exporter of alt-right ideology? Doesn’t this detract from the fact that the US isn’t exporting democracy anymore (if it ever did) and is instead exporting its degeneration into whatever Bannon/Trump/Musk/Thiel and others want it to become?
Maybe calling them Putin’s puppets helps discredit them on US soil, but the rest of us see the US go the way of Russia and China. And a bleak future in which most of us will only get to choose between different flavors of authoritarianism…