According to Britain’s tech minister, Elon Musk operates without any oversight, a statement made in the context of recent riots in the UK.

Elon Musk’s significant influence on global conversations should not be overlooked, according to the U.K.’s technology minister, Peter Kyle. In an interview with the Times, Kyle emphasized that Musk, who is not accountable to anyone, has the power to affect major international events, including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. He compared the U.K.’s dealings with large social media companies like X to negotiations with other countries’ secretaries of state due to their vast influence.

Kyle’s remarks, made before recent riots, follow Musk’s controversial comments about U.K. affairs. Musk, who owns the social media platform X and leads Tesla, suggested in a post that immigration could lead to civil war in the U.K. amidst ongoing riots. This statement has drawn criticism from various government officials. The British prime minister’s spokesperson condemned Musk’s comments as unjustified, and Heidi Alexander, the U.K. courts minister, urged social media influencers to act responsibly, calling Musk’s language about civil war completely unwarranted.

Kyle has engaged with social media giants like TikTok, Meta (Facebook’s parent company), Google, and X to address their role in curbing misinformation related to the riots. The U.K. recently enacted the Online Safety Act, aimed at strengthening the regulation of illegal and harmful online content. However, Ofcom, the regulatory body responsible for enforcing this law, cannot yet act against companies for harmful posts inciting the riots, as not all provisions of the act are in effect. Ofcom is working swiftly to implement the act, but full enforcement requiring tech firms to actively monitor their platforms won’t be in place until 2025.

For more details on Kyle’s views on Musk, refer to the original Times article.