German public broadcaster ZDF has responded to a cease-and-desist letter from tech billionaire Elon Musk (54) by retroactively cutting the moderation before a report about riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The network issued a declaration to cease and desist. Musk had his attorney Joachim Steinhöfel send the cease-and-desist letter to the public broadcaster - the trigger was the June 12 broadcast of "ZDFheute live".

In the contested introduction, the host had stated: "A hateful mob then hunted down migrants: A British right-wing extremist and tech billionaire Elon Musk had called for this." This exact passage has now been removed from the broadcast.

ZDF's Statement

In a statement, the network explained: "ZDF confirms that Elon Musk, through a German law firm, demanded a declaration to cease and desist regarding the opening moderation of the 'ZDFheute live' broadcast from June 12, 2026, titled 'Riots in Belfast - How Musk Fuels the Protests.' ZDF has issued this declaration and removed the passage in question from the introduction. As early as Saturday, ZDF had added a corrective transparency notice to the broadcast."

The background is a post on platform X. Well-known British right-wing extremist Tommy Robinson had spread protest plans there on June 9, claiming that all of the United Kingdom would take to the streets that evening at 7 p.m. - "following another attack by intruders on our people". Musk shared the post and commented with the words: "Only through repeated and loud protests will anything change!!"

The unrest was preceded by a brutal knife attack in Belfast. Police arrested a Sudanese man at the scene, who was later placed in pretrial detention for attempted murder.

The entrepreneur had announced he would take legal action against the broadcaster, calling ZDF's reporting "outrageous lies". Musk, who owns Tesla and SpaceX among other companies, has more than 240 million followers on X.