John Swinney called on social media moguls like Elon Musk to take “immediate action” to combat the spread of racism and disinformation on their platforms.

The First Minister today published a letter sent to tech giants Meta, Tik Tok and X (formerly known as Twitter).

Social media has been accused of spreading lies and misinformation that have led to major riots in many English cities over the past week.

X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, has been particularly criticized for the amount of racist material shared on its platform.

Humza Yousaf previously called Musk “one of the most dangerous men on the planet” during an appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this week.

Swinney said: “This week I met with representatives of faith and refugee groups to show my solidarity with communities across the country. They made me realize the impact social media is having in spreading misinformation, stoking alarm and creating a sense of threat in their communities.”

The SNP leader added: “It is clear to me that social media platforms have a duty to take action to ensure that individual members of our society are not subjected to hateful and threatening behaviour and that communities are protected from violent unrest.”

“I was shocked by Ofcom’s communication this week reminding social media companies of their obligation to remove material that incites hatred or violence.

“All political parties in Scotland stand together in resisting the prejudice and Islamophobia we see on the streets and online in parts of the UK.”

“Everyone has a responsibility to stop the spread of misinformation. You and your platform have a special responsibility to do this.”

Musk had previously deleted a repost on X in which he spread the false claim that internment camps were being set up in the Falkland Islands for those involved in last week’s violent unrest.

The richest man in the world has repeatedly commented on the unrest in Britain following the murder of the three young girls in Southport. Among other things, he called the Prime Minister a “two-class Keir” and said that a “civil war” in the country was “inevitable”.

Speaking about Reform UK chairman Nigel Farage yesterday, Yousaf described him and Musk as “bosom buddies” and said of the X owner: “I have to say, in my opinion, he is one of the most dangerous men on the planet.”

“He is unaccountable to anyone, he has enormous wealth which he uses to commit the worst evil deeds I have ever seen.”

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