Not content with just campaigning for the newly elected President of the United States Donald Trump and urging Germans to vote for a far-right political party, Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the country’s upcoming elections, American billionaire Elon Musk is stirring political feathers in the United Kingdom with an online campaign to free Tommy Robinson, extreme right wingfrom prison.
Here’s more on Robinson, who is currently serving time for breaching a restraining order but has also previously been jailed for assault and contempt of court:
What did Musk say about Tommy Robinson?
Musk, who was recently appointed by Trump as a special adviser, posted several times on his X account on Wednesday and Thursday, saying Robinson, a notorious far-right anti-immigration and anti-Islam activist, “needs to be released” from prison.
Free Tommy Robinson!@TRobinsonNewEra
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2025
In another post, he wrote: “Why is Tommy Robinson in solitary confinement for telling the truth?”
Why is Tommy Robinson in prison for the truth?
He should be released, and those who covered up this travesty should take his place in that cell. https://t.co/Dn48JLoJgR
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 1, 2025
Who is Tommy Robinson and why is he in prison?
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the name Tommy Robinson, 42, is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence after admitting contempt of court during a defamation case involving Syrian refugee schoolboy Jamal Hijazi.
A video showing 15-year-old Hiazi being attacked by another teenager at a school in Almondbury, Yorkshire, northern England, went viral in the UK in October 2018.
Robinson responded by posting videos on his Facebook account, claiming Hijazi had assaulted “young English girls” and threatened to stab a boy at school, which Hijazi denied.
These videos, which were seen by almost a million people, led to death threats against Hiaziz and his family.
The High Court ruled in 2021 that Robinson had defamed Hiazi and ordered him to pay £100,000 ($124,000) in damages. The judge also imposed an injunction against him, which prevents him from repeating the lawsuits.
However, in February 2023, Robinson began repeating these claims and made a documentary which he posted on his X account claiming that he had been “silenced by the state”. In July 2024, he showed this documentary to viewers in London’s Trafalgar Square.
He was jailed for 18 months at Woolwich Crown Court in October 2024 after admitting breaching the 2021 ban.
His documentary, titled “Silenced,” is still on X and has 146.2 million views as of Friday. It was retweeted by about 101,000 people, including Musk.
Robinson was banned from X, then known as Twitter, in 2018. However, he was allowed back on the platform in 2018 when Musk bought it. Robinson now has more than a million followers on X.
In the past, Robinson has been jailed for assault (2005), mortgage fraud (2014) and contempt of court (2024).
In 2019, he was sentenced to nine months in jail for contempt of court after posting a video of defendants in criminal proceedings on Facebook. The trial involved a group of alleged sex offenders who were accused of abusing young girls.
He founded an extreme right-wing Islamophobic organization, English Defense Leaguein June 2009. He organized violent demonstrations against Islam and was active until about 2013.
Why did Musk support Robinson?
Musk’s posts of support for Robinson come in light of the UK’s long-running groom gang scandal, which Musk claims Robinson tried to blow up.
In June 2022, an independent review found that the police and council had failed to prevent the sexual exploitation of young girls by gangs in Oldham, northern England. The review identified several options to stop the abuse from 2005.
In July 2024, political leaders at Oldham council called on the government to investigate the sexual abuse of children in the town by “grooming gangs”.
But in October 2024, Home Secretary Jess Phillips rejected the council’s request, saying it should only investigate.
On Wednesday, the right-wing British newspaper GB News reported and blamed the Labor Party, which came to power in July in a landslide election ousting the Conservative Party after 14 years in power, for its inaction on groom gangs. The report was reinforced by Musk, as well as conservative leaders in the UK.
Musk posted on his X account that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer failed to prosecute child rapists while he was director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013. He also posted on X on Friday: “Jess Philips is a rape genocide apologist.”
Musk’s posts supporting Robinson come alongside a wave of his posts supporting European right-wing figures online. At the end of December, he wrote an opinion in support of the German right-wing party AfD. He also backed Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK party and Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Musk’s views were “misjudged and misinformed.”
“Musk’s support of not only Tommy Robinson, but the AfD in Germany, shows how much of a problem he is for democracy, as well as the reputation of the likes of Nigel Farage and Liz Truss,” Labor MP Stella Creasy told Politico.
In December, Farage met with Musk at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “Only reform can save Britain,” Musk posted on X on Thursday.
Only reform can save Britain. https://t.co/KayCknFQUZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 1, 2025
In 2018, Farage resigned from the UK Independence Party (UKIP) after its leader Gerard Batten appointed Robinson as an official adviser.
Reform President Zia Yusuf is also a Muslim. Farage has yet to publicly respond to Musk’s recent revelations about Robinson.
