More than half of the accounts that posted on Elon Musk's X about June's rioting in Belfast and the civil disorder in Southampton were based outside the UK, according to an analysis published by the Guardian on Sunday.
Of 8,672 accounts whose combined posts about the two episodes exceeded 1,000 views, just 45.3% were shown as being in the UK, based on the platform's own account location function. Seven of the 12 most-read posts identified by the analysis originated in the United States.
The findings sharpen a debate that has run through three consecutive British summers of anti-immigrant unrest: how far domestic street violence is being amplified, and possibly encouraged, by accounts operating thousands of miles from the streets in question. Similar research reported by Bloomberg on 1 July concluded that posts encouraging anti-migrant rioting in Belfast had originated overseas.
The Southampton disorder followed the conviction on 28 May of Vickrum Digwa, 23, for the murder of 18-year-old accountancy student Henry Nowak, and the release on 1 June of police bodycam footage showing Nowak handcuffed as he told officers he had been stabbed and could not breathe. A protest outside Southampton police station the following day, attended by Stephen Lennon, who uses the name Tommy Robinson, Nick Tenconi and Paul Golding, ended with 11 officers and a police dog injured.
In Belfast, rioting broke out on 9 June, a day after a stabbing on Kinnaird Avenue in the north of the city. A 30-year-old Sudanese man, Hadi Alodid, was later charged with attempted murder; those proceedings remain active. Over two nights a Glider bus was burned, a hotel used for asylum accommodation in Glengormley was attacked, water cannon were deployed and 12 officers were injured. The fire service attended 62 incidents and 27 people were made homeless after rioters went door to door.
Lists of addresses and businesses circulated widely on X during the disorder, including an AI-generated list of Belfast streets shared by Lennon and by Musk himself. The Police Service of Northern Ireland called the circulation of addresses "totally unacceptable" and warned that those sharing them could be committing a criminal offence.
Sir Keir Starmer did not name Musk at the time but criticised "those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere", and accused people of "trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets". Northern Ireland's justice minister, Naomi Long, said violent actors were "weaponising genuine hurt, concern and anger", and pointed to "bad faith actors in the UK and further afield".
The analysis carries a significant caveat. X's location field, introduced in late November 2025, is derived primarily from IP address geolocation, and the platform's own disclaimer states the data "may not be accurate". X's head of product, Nikita Bier, has acknowledged the company relied on an outdated IP database that mislabelled some accounts.
"Now that this feature exists, I think it's absolutely going to be exploited, and people will learn to dodge it very quickly," said Darren Linvill, co-director of the Clemson Media Forensics Hub.
The true overseas share could therefore be higher or lower, depending on VPN use in either direction.
The findings will add to pressure on Ofcom, which is already investigating X over sexual deepfakes generated by an AI chatbot, and to arguments that the Online Safety Act does not adequately address algorithmic amplification. The Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, has said the system "builds in delay after delay".
Reporting from the June disorder also complicates any straightforward causal claim: violence failed to materialise at most of the 26 locations named in circulating online warnings. Two men have been sentenced over the Southampton disorder, with 19 others charged.