Musk announces legal action against ZDF – broadcaster acknowledges "misleading" wording

The dispute was triggered by an episode of "ZDFhehte live" last Friday, which dealt with the violent anti-foreigner protests in and around Belfast the week before. At the beginning of the programme, the anchor said that after a "brutal attempted murder in the open street in Belfast," a video of which had gone viral, a racist mob had carried out a "hunt on migrants." "Those who had called for it were a British far-right extremist and tech billionaire Elon Musk," the anchor added.

Background: The ZDF programme from Friday

The criticism focuses above all on the wording "called for a hunt on migrants." Musk firmly rejects this accusation. "The claim that our client called for a 'hunt on migrants' by a 'racist mob' is obviously untrue," the "Welt" newspaper quoted from the lawyer's letter on Tuesday. The letter further referred to a "defamatory and slanderous imputation" and a "drastic breach of fundamental journalistic principles."

Musk himself spoke out on his platform X on Monday evening. "Legal action is being taken against ZDF for its outrageous lies," the entrepreneur wrote. He was responding to a post by German publicist Julian Reichelt, who had also sharply criticised the ZDF programme. Reichelt wrote on X that Musk had not "called for a hunt on migrants," as the broadcaster had claimed.

ZDF's response

The post was shared by Elon Musk, according to "Welt." According to the newspaper, Musk's lawyer Joachim Steinhöfel sent a cease-and-desist letter to the broadcaster over the report and demanded a declaration to cease and desist by Thursday afternoon. Should ZDF not issue the declaration, Musk would be advised to take "immediate court action."

ZDF itself described the introduction in question as "imprecise and therefore misleading." On its website, the broadcaster stated that the wording had been "imprecise and therefore misleading." The article has since been provided with a notice. ZDF, however, rejected the accusation of deliberately false reporting and emphasised that it was a matter of wording.

Reichelt and the role of Nius

German publicist Julian Reichelt, meanwhile, attacked the broadcaster in sharp terms. Reichelt spoke of "outright lies" and called for ZDF to be "broken up." As early as Sunday, he had described ZDF in a post on X as a "fortress of lies." Reichelt is editor-in-chief of the online portal "Nius," which is classified as right-wing populist. Until autumn 2021, he was editor-in-chief of the "Bild" newspaper.

The background to the conflict is the unrest in Northern Ireland last week. Musk had shared posts by the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson on X. Robinson had called for protests following a stabbing attack in Belfast. Musk joined these calls and wrote to his 240 million followers on X: "Nur wenn wir wiederholt und laut protestieren, wird sich etwas ändern."

Trigger: Unrest in Belfast

Musk has since become a billionaire following the stock market listing of his space company SpaceX. His stake in the space company made him the richest person in the world. The fact that Musk shared posts by a far-right activist and joined in his calls drew international criticism, as many observers saw it as giving a platform to extremist views.

From the perspective of Musk's lawyers, the ZDF report raises several legal questions. Alongside the accusation of slander, the question is whether the wording accurately reflects the factual core of Musk's statements. While Musk argues that he merely called for the exercise of the right to demonstrate, ZDF sees the wording as an accurate, albeit unfortunate, abbreviation of the statements.

The developments throw a spotlight on the difficult relationship between powerful platform operators and traditional media. X, Musk's platform, has repeatedly proven contentious between politicians, media users, and journalism in recent years. The question of how statements on social media are reproduced and interpreted is the subject of ongoing debate.

In legal terms, the case is likely to be assessed primarily against the standard of permissible interpretation of statements. What is decisive is whether an average viewer would have had to understand the introduction as a statement of fact or as a pointed summary. Should ZDF fail to issue the requested declaration to cease and desist, Musk could sue in a German civil court.

Legal assessment and outlook

This news item was broadcast on 16.06.2026 on Deutschlandfunk. The case is also being followed internationally with close attention, as it is seen as a litmus test for how European media deal with statements by US tech entrepreneurs.