Musk Threatens Legal Action Against German Media Over Belfast Riot Coverage

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, one of Germany’s two publicly-funded television networks, now faces the prospect of a lawsuit from the world’s richest man, according to Breitbart News.

During an episode of its flagship Today Live programme last week, ZDF presenter Christina v. Ungern-Sternberg discussed the role of social media in recent riots in Northern Ireland. She claimed that a brutal attempted murder on a Belfast street was filmed and went viral, after which a racist mob hunted down migrants. The presenter then alleged that calls for such action had come from British right-wing activist Tommy Robinson and tech billionaire Elon Musk.

The German broadcaster provided no evidence to support these serious allegations. The programme actually showed a post from Robinson’s X account that explicitly called for demonstrators to remain peaceful and respectful, directly contradicting the network’s claims.

While protests last weekend did turn violent in and around Belfast, and the Northern Ireland Police Service indicated that some agitators shared what appeared to be a hit list of migrant residence targets, law enforcement has suggested no connection between the riots and statements made by Musk or Robinson.

Responding to the accusations on Monday, Musk wrote on his X social media platform that legal action is being taken against ZDF for their outrageous lies. He added that during the lawsuit, his team would find out exactly which individual wrote what he called a terrible lie.

ZDF has since removed the section of the programme containing the accusations against Musk, adding a note stating that the introduction has been shortened for legal reasons.

The German broadcaster has faced sharp criticism within Germany over the false allegations. Sebastian Eberle, an editor for the NDR German public broadcaster, stated that such work is completely unacceptable.

Anna Schneider, chief reporter for German newspaper of record Die Welt, accused ZDF of obscuring the actual cause of the unrest in Northern Ireland. She argued that the core of the debate 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.

This is not the first time ZDF has faced criticism over reporting accuracy. In February, the public broadcaster was forced to apologize after airing an AI-generated video falsely purporting to show a migrant family being arrested by American Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

ZDF was also forced to issue a retraction last year after its Washington correspondent, Elmar Theveßen, falsely accused American activist Charlie Kirk of advocating for homosexuals to be stoned to death. Fellow ZDF presenter Dunja Hayali reacted to Kirk by accusing the Turning Point founder of holding positions that were too radical, too racist, and too misanthropic.

With information from Breitbart News