*Musk has spent days beefing with politicians over the far-right unrest sweeping the UK. *

Elon Musk could be summoned for a grilling by British MPs over X’s role in race riots that have rocked the U.K. over the last week, as well as his own incendiary comments about the violence.

Labour MPs Chi Onwurah and Dawn Butler, who are competing to chair parliament’s science, innovation and technology committee, both told POLITICO they’d press the billionaire X owner and other technology executives to answer questions about the role of social media platforms amid mounting unrest in the U.K.

Musk has spent days beefing with British politicians over the riots, and is locked in a war of words with Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the U.K’s handling of them. Musk on Sunday wrote “civil war is inevitable” in the U.K. and claimed that the response by U.K. police has been “one-sided."

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
    976·
    4 months ago

    the UK doesn’t get to call a US citizen into parliment, we fought a war about that one.

    I know American history classes suck, but I didn’t realize they sucked this badly.

    Parliament can call summon anyone they like anywhere in the world. Whether or not the person they summon is required to go depends on local laws.

    Believe it or not, even if the U.S. had a “you can’t summon us to parliament, so there” clause in the Constitution, the British could say “fuck your constitution” and do the summoning anyway.

    • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      543·
      4 months ago

      Dude has rot in his brain like damn. Yes he can always just run away, but that wont improve his situation. If you dont answer when you are accused, the sentencing will happen without you. If the UK and EU ban twitter, he wont like that, so its in his own best interest to show up.

      If you wanna do business somewhere, you will answer to the laws of that place or deal with the consequences.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
        191·
        4 months ago

        Sure, I was speaking in more general terms about the bizarre claim that we fought a war to stop the UK Parliament from summoning Americans.

        • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.netEnglish
          14·
          4 months ago

          I mean… That was one of our formal complaints that all criminal trials in colonial American times happened in England instead of locally before a jury of peers, but to ignore the entire legal tradition of jurisdiction and extradition to focus entirely on that is… Dumb. Even then I’m pretty sure Patrick Henry would agree if Elon Musk committed a crime in London, where he should be tried is London. The argument the thread starter is making requires ignoring what the actual formal complaints was and instead flattening it into a simplified version that basically translates to “lol england bad”

      • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        3 months ago

        Musk is a narcissist, so he’s probably thining the UK wouldn’t dare ban Twitter, now that he’s made it so awesome.

    • Warl0k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
      147·
      4 months ago

      Ah hell, you make one deeply drunken joke and suddenly you’re at -25…

      FWIW, the US does have a whole host of laws and various treaty clauses that dictate US citzens cant be held to account by a foreign power without either US government consent or consent of the party. Our extradition and criminal parity treaties mean that, in criminal cases, we might let a citizen be tried outside of the US, but calling a US citizen is really really difficult to pull off. Thats what I was referring to when I said “we fought a war”. The UK government cannot compel him to testify, by hundred-year-old-treaty, without US consent.

      But calling a US citizen to testify in front of a foreign legislative power is 100%, by both treaty and hegemony, entirely consensual on the part of the called party. Musk can just say no, and there’s nothing that can be done without getting the buy-off from the state dpt, which… we’re an oligopoly, we’re not going to hand over a billionare.

      HOWEVER the UK is entirely able to hold his business interests and investments ransom, which would be highly effective. If parliment is serious about this they’ll do that, but since I have no more faith in the UK government than my own (okay a little more, the US is in a bad place, the tories would honestly be a step up in most states) I absolutely do not expect them to go after musk in a way that even slightly might work. Which I would love to be proven wrong about, please, some government hold this asshole to account.