As Belfast grappled with the fallout from violent unrest this week, a parallel battle unfolded online, where posts related to the unrest spread rapidly across X, drawing millions of views and placing platform owner Elon Musk under renewed scrutiny.

The unrest followed a brutal knife attack in Belfast on Monday. Police subsequently charged a Sudanese national, Hadi Alodid, with attempted murder.

In the aftermath of the incident, Musk amplified calls for protests across Britain from anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson. He also wrote to his 240 million followers on X, "Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change."

Musk further shared anti-immigration content and posts from Rupert Lowe, leader of the fringe hard-right party Restore Britain, extending their reach to millions of users.

Watchdog points to Musk's influence

According to researchers at the non-profit tech watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), posts relating to Belfast shared by Musk, Robinson and Lowe collectively amassed more than 115 million views across their accounts.

The organisation said Musk was responsible for 55 per cent of that total.

"Musk's amplification has been instrumental," contributing 64 million views, CCDH said in its report.

Imran Ahmed, CCDH's founder and chief executive, said, "As the owner of X and its most followed user, Musk has unparalleled power to shape what people see online. With that power comes responsibility for the content and conduct his platform promotes."

"Yet our research shows that he used the Belfast tragedy to amplify anti-migrant narratives to millions of users, prompting endless calls for violence. While communities dealt with the consequences of brutality and disorder, no individual played a bigger role in spreading this content on X than Musk himself," Ahmed added.

Concerns over violent responses

CCDH said it found an "explosion in calls for violence" within responses to posts from the three accounts concerning the Belfast unrest.

According to the group, more than 3,900 comments advocated lynchings and other crimes against immigrants. It added that two-thirds of those calls for violence appeared in replies to Robinson's posts.