London, United Kingdom – Azmat Khan, a British Pakistani taxi driver, is not usually much of a worrier.
But recently, as he drives his cab at night through London’s ice-cold streets, he has become increasingly anxious.
“We’ve just had a summer of unrest with misinformation fuelling far-right activists in this country, partly thanks to X, and now he’s back, fanning the flames again,” Khan said of the South-Africa born tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has used the social media platform he owns to rage about British sexual abuse convicts of Pakistani heritage.
“This guy’s dangerous, and yes, I’m worried,” Khan, a 35-year-old father of three, told Al Jazeera, sharing his fears of collective punishment.
“Our community has seen through this kind of scapegoating before. But with Musk’s platform and resources, the threat has reached an entirely new level.”
Khan tunes in to the pulse of the city through his passengers and says he has noticed a troubling shift in back-seat conversations.
Some passengers have talked about what they called the “threats” Muslims and migrants bring to the UK.
That type of discourse could be linked to Musk’s inflammatory comments about historic cases of child sex abuse, Khan believes.
“That was a horrific time when the news first came out more than a decade ago,” Khan said. “But to bring it up again now, while it’s being dealt with, and to finger-point at Pakistani Muslims specifically – it’s obvious he’s trying to cause trouble, a move towards the civil war he was trying to stir up last summer.”
In August last year, after three girls were killed in Southport, online agitators blamed the attack on a Muslim migrant. But 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana, who was sentenced this week to 52 years in jail, was neither a Muslim nor a migrant. The false claims led to widespread riots. Responding to footage posted on X of the riots, Musk posted: “Civil war is inevitable.”
In recent weeks, Musk has turned his focus to child sexual assault cases that took place over several decades in northern English towns such as Rochdale, Oldham, and Telford.
As well as relentlessly sharing grim details of the cases involving British Pakistani men, several of them taxi drivers, Musk has called for a new national inquiry, amplified posts that suggest dual national convicts should be stripped of their UK citizenship, and targeted Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government, accusing politicians of a “cover-up”.
While some child sex abuse cases have involved several men of British Pakistani origin, it is impossible to suggest British Pakistanis are more likely to commit the crime.
Shabna Begum, head of Runnymede Trust, a racial equality think tank, said there was “no conclusive evidence which demonstrates an ethnic disproportionality in those who perpetrate this violence”.
A UK Home Office report in 2020 supported this view.
“By propelling misinformation, he’s creating mistrust and a volatile environment,” Begum said. “It purposefully stokes fear, prejudice, and division with no care for the victims and survivors of this violence, and makes no effort to address the real problems of misogyny and child sexual abuse.”
According to the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre), in 2022, 83 percent of defendants proceeded against for child sexual abuse offences were white, while 2 percent were of Pakistani backgrounds.
The centre used data from children’s social care, policing, criminal justice and health departments to build its report, but cautioned that the overrepresentation of white defendants “is likely to be related to the overall under-identification of child sexual abuse in minority ethnic communities”.
But Musk seems intent on painting a distorted picture, instead doubling down on a divisive and misleading narrative, said Khan.
Musk has relentlessly pressured the government led by Starmer, a former chief prosecutor and head of the Crown Prosecution Service.
“Starmer was complicit in the RAPE OF BRITAIN when he was head of Crown Prosecution for 6 years,” Musk has posted on X.
The government has repeatedly dismissed calls for a second national inquiry. However, last week it announced a plan to fund five new local inquiries, including one in Oldham.
The UK’s seven-year national inquiry into child sexual abuse (2014-2021) was one of the most comprehensive investigations of its kind.
Its final report, published in October 2022, drew on extensive research, multiple investigations, and victim testimonies. The report revealed systemic failures in protecting children and made powerful recommendations to improve safeguarding and accountability.
Even so, critics argue that the true scale of abuse committed was neglected for years.
“The real issue is creating a society that protects young girls from predators of any background,” Khan said. “But Musk isn’t interested in solutions – he’s interested in scapegoating one community. It doesn’t bode well for Britain or even Europe where he’s also been meddling.”
In Rochdale, where British Pakistanis make up about 14 percent of the population, some are weary of being vilified.
“Most of us are working-class, honest folk,” said Mohammed Sheraz, a 48-year-old “Rochdalian”, as he described himself.
Born and raised in the town, he added, “We’re tired of being portrayed as troublesome Muslims or brown men to be scared of. Yes, some men committed disgusting crimes, but they were as far from Islam as you can get. They are criminals and should be treated as criminals. They don’t represent us in any way.”
Sheraz, who has for years run the Army of Kindness – a soup kitchen in Rochdale that serves people of all backgrounds – views Musk’s interventions as dangerous.
“It’s like he’s sowing the seeds for some major anti-Muslim war,” he said.
Rochdale remained calm over the summer as xenophobic riots erupted elsewhere, a sense of peace that Sheraz attributed to the resilience of the British public.
“Remember what stopped those riots from escalating: People of all races and backgrounds stood together against the right-wing thuggery that Musk seems determined to support.”
Musk’s endorsement of the jailed far-right activist Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, has been particularly contentious.
A figure synonymous with anti-Muslim sentiment in the UK, Robinson is currently serving a prison sentence for contempt of court.
Musk has called for Robinson’s release and portrayed him as a champion of free speech, drawing widespread condemnation.
Nigel Farage and Richard Tice, who lead the populist Reform Party that Musk has previously flirted with, have distanced themselves from Robinson.
Even so, Musk’s rhetoric has emboldened fringe movements. His posts echo the language of far-right activists, conflating cultural integration with a rise in criminality.
His influence – as one of the world’s richest men and an adviser to the new United States administration led by President Donald Trump – worries Sheraz.
“Tommy Robinson has been to Rochdale before in 2011 to stoke up hate, divide and conquer, it didn’t work. The community stood together to ensure our town didn’t go up in flames … But now Mr. Tesla is backing those folks. Who knows what’ll happen next?”
‘Thinly veiled attempt to racialise a gendered issue’
Begum at Runnymede described Musk’s rhetoric as “dangerous and irresponsible”, especially following the “worst racist rioting the UK has seen in generations”.
“Victims of child sexual abuse deserve justice, and of course, all children must be protected from sexual violence and exploitation – that goes without saying,” Begum said.
“What we are witnessing are powerful men exploiting horrendous sexual violence against women to score political points and push their own agendas.
“Focusing on Pakistani Muslim men and advocating for deportation or citizenship stripping is a thinly veiled attempt to racialise what is fundamentally a gendered issue.”
As the UK grapples with Musk’s growing influence, unity should be the strongest defence against a divisive agenda, said Sheraz.
“We’ve faced hate before, and we’ll face it again. But we’re British – we’ll stand together against this, too.”
