This scandal has played out on social media as much as in the Commons and courts

It was in the wood-panelled halls of the House of Commons that the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced a national inquiry into grooming gangs in the UK last Monday.

- Xavier Greenwood

But since the reporter Andrew Norfolk at the Times exposed the scandal in 2011, the story has played out as much online as it has in police stations and council chambers.

Keir Starmer, the prime minister, might not admit it, but it is unlikely that a national inquiry would have been commissioned if it hadn’t been for Elon Musk. The inquiry is the direct consequence of Louise Casey's rapid audit, which Cooper announced on 16 January.

Musk had spent the previous two weeks elevating a national issue to the status of a global news story. The owner of Tesla and X posted hundreds of times about grooming gangs to more than 200 million followers.

The audit that followed identified a culture of “blindness, ignorance and prejudice” that had led to serious failures in dealing with grooming gangs. It criticised the “adultification” of teenage girls by police and children’s services, and said that poor data had led people to dismiss claims about “Asian grooming gangs”.

The national inquiry will seek redress for these injustices.