Elon Musk has announced plans to take legal action against Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF after one of its programs alleged that the X owner helped incite anti-migrant violence in Belfast following a shocking attack allegedly carried out by a Sudanese asylum seeker.

The dispute centers on remarks aired by Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, one of Germany’s taxpayer-funded television networks, which now finds itself facing a potential lawsuit from the billionaire entrepreneur.

During an episode of its flagship news program, Today Live, which examined the role of social media in recent unrest in Northern Ireland, presenter Christina v. Ungern-Sternberg made a controversial claim connecting Musk to the violence.

“A brutal attempted murder on a public street in Belfast. Someone films it; the video goes viral. A racist mob subsequently hunts down migrants. Calls for this had come from a British right-wing extremist (Tommy Robinson) and tech billionaire Elon Musk.”

The report, however, did not offer evidence that either Musk or Robinson had encouraged violence. In fact, the segment included a post from Robinson on X in which he explicitly urged demonstrators to remain “peaceful” and “respectful”.

Although violence erupted in parts of Belfast and surrounding areas, and police reported that some agitators circulated what appeared to be a list of migrant residences, authorities have not publicly connected the unrest to statements made by Musk or Robinson.

Musk responded forcefully to the allegations on Monday, using his social media platform to announce legal proceedings against the broadcaster.

“Legal action is being taken against ZDF for their outrageous lies.”

He followed that statement with another sharp criticism of the network.

“During the lawsuit against them, we will find out exactly which cretin wrote this terrible lie,” he added.

In the aftermath of the controversy, ZDF removed the disputed portion of the broadcast from its online platforms and acknowledged the change with a brief explanation.

“The introduction has been shortened for legal reasons.”

The broadcaster has also come under fire from members of Germany’s own media establishment. Sebastian Eberle, an editor with fellow public broadcaster NDR, condemned the handling of the report.

“We cannot and must not work like this. This is completely unacceptable.”

Anna Schneider, chief reporter for the German newspaper Die Welt, similarly criticized ZDF, arguing that the network had focused attention on social media figures instead of addressing the event that sparked the unrest.

According to Schneider, the real issue was the attempted beheading in Belfast and the broader concerns surrounding migration policy.

“The core of the debate, which has almost been forgotten, is the obviously massively misguided migration policy decisions of recent years, which have put moral self-righteousness above control and brought the population into uncertainty. Just as if the citizens were somehow absorbing all the risks that obviously come across the border. That would be worth a fresh ZDF magazine,” she said.

The latest controversy is not the first time ZDF has been accused of serious journalistic errors.

Earlier this year, the network was forced to apologize after broadcasting an AI-generated video that falsely portrayed a migrant family being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

The broadcaster also issued a retraction last year after Washington correspondent Elmar Theveßen wrongly claimed that slain American activist Charlie Kirk had advocated stoning homosexuals to death. Following Kirk’s murder, fellow ZDF presenter Dunja Hayali accused him of espousing views that were “too radical, too racist, too misanthropic, misogynistic, and dehumanising.”

{Matzav.com}