German broadcaster removes TV intro after Elon Musk takes legal action

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. German broadcaster removes TV intro after Elon Musk takes legal action18 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleJessica ParkerBerlin correspondentAlex Wong/Getty ImagesElon Musk reacted to the ZDF broadcast after it was highlighted by a German journalistGerman public broadcaster ZDF has removed part of a report that claimed tech trillionaire Elon Musk had called for migrants to be hunted in Northern Ireland. ZDF conceded its wording was "misleading" while Musk said "legal action is being taken against ZDF for their outrageous lies". Violence erupted in Belfast last week, following a brutal knife attack in a street in the north of the city.

Police arrested a Sudanese man at the scene in north Belfast and he was later remanded in custody by a court on a charge of attempted murder. The victim was seriously wounded and the court heard he had lost his left eye in last week's attack, which prompted unrest in Belfast and led to homes and vehicles being set alight. The recent disorder in Northern Ireland attracted widespread international attention, including in Germany, where migration has also been a highly charged issue.

The Details

On Friday 12 June, a presenter introduced an edition of news magazine programme ZDFheute Live about the violence in Belfast entitled "How Musk is fuelling the protests". "A brutal attempted murder on a public street in Belfast," she explained in the now-removed introduction to the report. "Someone takes a video which goes viral.

Following that, a racist mob is hunting migrants. The call for that came from a British right-wing extremist and tech billionaire Elon Musk. "Robinson, a well-known British far-right activist, had shared protest plans on Musk's social media platform X on 9 June, claiming that "the whole of the United Kingdom is hitting the streets tonight at 7pm following yet another invader attack on our people".

However, he has suggested it is a lie to say that he has called for riots. Musk quoted the post, saying "Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!! "Musk said he would take legal action in response to the post highlighting ZDF's broadcast by German journalist Julian Reichelt, who runs NiUS, a relatively recent venture that has drawn comparisons with GB News in the UK or America's Fox News.

What Experts Say

In a statement on Tuesday, ZDF told the that Elon Musk had demanded a "cease and desist" declaration, through a German law firm. "ZDF issued the declaration and removed the passage in question from the introduction," a spokesperson for the broadcaster said. "ZDF had already added a corrective transparency notice to the broadcast on Saturday.

"Before removing the introduction altogether, ZDF had issued a clarification, saying that the wording had been "imprecise and therefore misleading". The ZDF statement added: "Tommy Robinson called for protests after the knife attack in Belfast. The post was shared by Elon Musk.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.