The world’s first billionaire Elon Musk has announced legal action against German public broadcaster ZDF over a report he says misrepresented his position.
The broadcaster had highlighted Musk’s role in encouraging anti-immigrant protests in Northern Ireland that turned violent.
“Legal action is being taken against ZDF for their outrageous lies,” Musk said in a post on his social network X on Monday.
What did Elon Musk say about the Belfast riots?
There were several nights of rioting in Northern Ireland last week after a high-profile stabbing incident. The suspect, an immigrant from Sudan, was charged with attempted murder.
Hundreds of people rioted from house to house in the streets of Belfast, chanting “Foreigners get out” and setting cars, houses and businesses on fire.
The protests were encouraged by British far-right extremist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – known by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson – as well as Restore UK founder Rupert Lowe.
Musk shared posts from these two figures to his 240 million followers on Twitter.
“Only by repeatedly and loudly protesting will any change happen!!” Musk added in one of his posts on June 9.
Three days later, ZDF aired a half-hour segment covering the riots on its online news program ZDF live today.
The anchor introduced the segment by saying, “A racist mob was out looking for migrants.” “It was called by Elon Musk, a British right-wing extremist and tech millionaire.”
The 28-second clip was shared on X by right-wing journalist Julian Reichelt, the former editor-in-chief of the German tabloid. Picture Until he was fired in 2021 following reports of misconduct towards female employees.
ZDF reportedly admits ‘impure’ phrase
Reichelt later shared a screenshot of what he presented as a response to the broadcaster, whom he called on to be “destroyed”.
In the post, ZDF appeared to defend its reporting but acknowledged that the host’s choice of words was “inaccurate” and “misleading.”
The statement read, “On its June 12, 2026 episode, ZDFheute Live examined the role played by right-wing influencers such as Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson during the violent protests in Belfast. Tommy Robinson had called for protests. Elon Musk had shared the call to protest.”
“The host’s intention was to summarize the complex situation surrounding the violent protests and the prior call for protests at
ZDF, short for Second German Television, is one of two nationwide public networks in Germany. It is funded by the television license fee.
Edited by: Rana Taha