Musk says MPs 'will be summoned to US' after riots row

Elon Musk has said British MPs "will be summoned to the United States of America to explain their censorship and threats to American citizens" in a fresh escalation of tensions between the world's richest man and Labour.

- Robert Booth

Musk, a fixture at the side of Donald Trump since his re-election as US president, was responding to a Guardian report on Wednesday that the Commons science and technology select committee would call on him to give evidence in the new year in its inquiry into the spread of harmful content on social media following riots in August.

The committee's chair, Chi Onwurah, a Labour MP, said she wanted to see how Musk, who owns the social media platform X, "reconciles his promotion of freedom of expression with his promotion of pure disinformation".

X hosts accounts by figures including Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate, who were accused of inciting people to join Islamophobic protests.

Musk, who has more than 205 million followers on X, responded by saying the MPs would be called to the US. He has previously said prison sentences handed down to people who stoked the riots on X are a breach of free speech rights, adding: "I don't think anyone should go to the UK when they're releasing convicted paedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts."