Swinney condemns Musk over racism row with Yousaf

Scotland's first minister has described Elon Musk's behaviour as "completely and utterly unacceptable” after the billionaire owner of X branded Humza Yousaf "racist" and a "scumbag".

John Swinney defended his predecessor, who has described Mr Musk as a "race baiter" and "one of the most dangerous men on the planet”.

The tech entrepreneur suggested he would welcome legal action from Mr Yousaf.

The former first minister declined to speak to BBC Scotland.

However, Mr Swinney said his predecessor had faced racist and Islamophobic abuse for many years.

“I think that’s why he has taken such a strong stance about the unacceptable conduct and content that we’ve heard from Elon Musk," the first minister told BBC Scotland.

Following anti-immigrant riots in England and Northern Ireland in recent weeks, Mr Swinney echoed calls from regulator Ofcom for social media firms to urgently protect users from content likely to incite violence or hatred.

Mr Musk has been highly critical of the UK authorities and the way the disorder has been handled.

Mr Swinney said he had not received a response from X to a letter he had written to social media companies on the riots.

“The conduct of Elon Musk is wholly unacceptable and the conduct of the social media company is just as unacceptable and needs to be tackled," he said.

The first minister said that while the riots had not spread north of the border, he wanted to ensure social media firms "do not behave in a fashion that creates difficulties" for communities in Scotland.

Mr Swinney was asked if the SNP or the Scottish government could step in to financially assist his predecessor in a possible legal case against Mr Musk, but said that was a matter for Mr Yousaf.

The most recent spat between Mr Musk and Mr Yousaf began last Thursday.

Speaking at an event at the Edinburgh Festival, the former first minister branded the X owner “one of the most dangerous men on the planet”.

“He is not accountable to anybody, he has vast wealth at his fingertips and disposal and he uses it for some of the most wicked evil I have seen,” he told LBC.

Mr Yousaf accused Mr Musk of using his wealth to amplify the far right and white supremacists.

After the ex-SNP leader made similar comments to CNN, Mr Musk described him as "super, super racist".

He posted on X: "Scotland gave him everything and yet he loathes white people.”

In the Sunday Mail, Mr Yousaf’s lawyer Aamer Anwar said the X owner had “effectively painted a target on Humza Yousaf’s back with his completely unacceptable, untrue and inflammatory comments”.

The newspaper reported that Mr Yousaf had not ruled out legal action and was “considering all options”.

Mr Yousaf also posted on X: “Elon Musk is a dangerous race baiter who must be held to account for his actions.

“I can't think what it is that upsets him so much about a Brown, Muslim, progressive politician? But his billions won't stop me calling out his support for the far-right.”

Mr Musk again responded online, claiming Mr Yousaf was "obviously super racist against white people".

"I dare that scumbag to sue me," he said. "Go ahead, make my day…”

Mr Musk added: “Legal discovery will show that however big a racist he’s been in public communications, he is vastly worse in private communications.”

This is not the first public spat between the pair.

In October last year, while Mr Yousaf was first minister, Mr Musk branded him a “blatant racist”.

The billionaire made the comment in response to an edited clip of a speech Mr Yousaf gave in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. The clip has once again been shared widely by right-wing accounts in recent days.

A fact check by the Reuters news agency concluded that the clip misrepresented Mr Yousaf's comments by suggesting he had been arguing that Scotland contained too many white people – when he had been about racial injustice and a lack of people of colour in positions of power.

Responding last year, Mr Yousaf’s spokesperson said Mr Musk should instead "tackle racism and hatred that goes unchecked on the social media platform he owns".