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LONDON — Elon Musk kicked off 2025 by calling for the release of a jailed far-right British activist.
The X owner tweeted Thursday morning that authorities should “free Tommy Robinson” — and said a deeply controversial documentary by the English Defense League co-founder was “worth watching.”
Robinson was jailed for 18 months last October after he admitted to breaching a court order by screening the documentary, which contained libelous claims about a Syrian refugee schoolboy.
Musk — a key donor to and ally of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump — shared the documentary with his more than 210 million followers on the X platform he owns.
Robinson is one of the most high-profile far-right figures in the U.K. His demonstrations in London often attract thousands of supporters. Robinson is a former member of the British National Party, and unsuccessfully stood for the European Parliament in 2019.
Lawyers for the schoolboy, who successfully sued Yaxley-Lennon for libel, previously said Robinson’s false documentary claims had had “a devastating effect” on him and his family and forced them to move home.
It’s just the latest intervention by Musk in British politics. The tech billionaire has been involved in an ongoing feud with the governing Labour Party since it took office last year. He’s branded the U.K. a “tyrannical police state,” and claimed “civil war is inevitable” in the U.K. as violence swept the country over the summer.
Musk’s endorsement of Robinson is also potentially awkward for Nigel Farage, the insurgent Reform UK leader whose right-wing populist party has tried to distance itself from the more fringe elements of the right in the U.K.
Musk has openly expressed support for Farage’s party and held talks with him at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in December.
The X owner has also faced a backlash in Germany, after backing the far-right Alternative for Germany and calling it the “last spark of hope” for the country.
