The grooming gangs scandal has been in the public eye for more than a decade, with multiple public enquiries and a string of prosecutions.
All of that went apparently unnoticed by the world’s richest man, until a few days ago.
Sky News analysis suggests just a handful of right-wing accounts on X prompted and developed Elon Musk’s interest in the topic, which has ignited debate online and offline.
This shows the volume of discussion on the subject on X before – and after – Musk’s involvement, looking at the keywords of grooming gangs and rape gangs.
“Discussion about grooming gangs is always a background drumbeat and a key rallying cry for far-right networks,” a spokesperson for the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) told Sky News.
Musk’s involvement lit a rocket under the topic, though: there have been at least 40 million engagements since he took interest, according to Talkwalker, a social media monitoring tool.
Condemnation of rape and grooming gangs isn’t far-right in itself: the entire British public shares exactly the same position. But there’s evidence that Musk’s introduction to the topic is a result of right-wing and far-right accounts on X.
This is Musk’s first post on the subject – on New Year’s Eve. He’s replying to an account he follows – and there are less than 1,000 of those – which focuses on immigration and crime statistics.
Sky News has analysed more than 2,000 of Musk’s posts over this recent period to understand which are the most influential accounts, in terms of who he replies to and who he reposts.
Right-wing commentators and news aggregators are prominent, as is far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson.
Peter Sweden, the account Musk has interacted with the most, has previously apologised for posts denying the holocaust. Ian Miles Cheong, a commentator based in Malaysia, and Visegrad 24, set up by South-African Polish advertiser Stefan Tompson, are influential right-wing news accounts with millions of followers between them.
“There’s a significant concern over the vast spread and normalisation of far-right talking points that until now have remained fairly fringe,” the ISD spokesperson told Sky News.
More on this story:
Grooming gangs scandal timeline: What happened
Victims of grooming gangs can have inquiry if they want one, Jess Phillips says
And it’s taking up a lot of Musk’s time and efforts. For a man with many interests, from space rockets to population birth rates, our research found that around a third of his recent output on X has been largely focused on grooming gangs.
That has involved interactions with specific British politicians, notably his targeting of the government’s safeguarding minister Jess Phillips.
But it even includes Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, whom Musk called a “cretin”.
Most interacted with by Musk, though, and also on that list above, is Rupert Lowe, the Reform UK MP.
Musk replied to him again today.
After saying that Reform’s leader Nigel Farage didn’t “have what it takes”, Musk seems to think Lowe does.