German broadcaster removes TV intro after Elon Musk takes legal action

Robinson, a well-known British far-right activist, had shared protest plans on Musk's social media platform X on 9 June, claiming that "the whole of the United Kingdom is hitting the streets tonight at 7pm following yet another invader attack on our people". However, he has suggested it is a lie to say that he has called for riots.Musk quoted the post, saying "Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!"Musk said he would take legal action in response to the post highlighting ZDF's broadcast by German journalist Julian Reichelt, who runs NiUS, a relatively recent venture that has drawn comparisons with GB News in the UK or America's Fox News.In a statement on Tuesday, ZDF told the BBC that Elon Musk had demanded a "cease and desist" declaration, through a German law firm."ZDF issued the declaration and removed the passage in question from the introduction," a spokesperson for the broadcaster said. "ZDF had already added a corrective transparency notice to the broadcast on Saturday."Before removing the introduction altogether, ZDF had issued a clarification, saying that the wording had been "imprecise and therefore misleading".The ZDF statement added: "Tommy Robinson called for protests after the knife attack in Belfast. The post was shared by Elon Musk."The tech tycoon, who also owns Tesla and SpaceX and has more than 240 million followers on X, has faced prior accusations of using his vast reach on social media to inflame tensions or spread disinformation.