Controversy Surrounds Netflix’s Adolescence as Elon Musk Amplifies Misinformation: After rumours have started on the web that the latest Netflix miniseries adolescence is based on an actual crime, controversy has erupted around the show. However, when tech billionaire Elon Musk replied to a claim on X (formerly Twitter) that was not confirmed to be true, it intensified the debate and led to misinformation related to the origin of the series spreading.
Adolescence and the False Claims Linking It to a Real-Life Crime
Last week, the four part series followed the story of 13 year old, Jamie, who is accused of murdering one of his class mates. The show tackles the issues of the online radicalisation and the effects of incels culture in digital spaces on the boys.
Soon after its release, online misinformation started circulating that the Southport attack was the idea point for Adolescence. Others added that Netflix opted to change some key details about the perpetrator in order to conform with an ideological bent. However, fact checkers debunked these claims, as they revealed that the show continued to be produced even before the attack took place.
Elon Musk’s Involvement in Spreading the Misinformation
The matter took a more dramatic twist when Musk chimed in on an Ian Miles Cheong, a social media personality who consistently engages in culture war discussions. However, Cheong falsely claimed that Adolescence was inspired by the Southport case but rewritten for a narrative.
Musk’s response—“Wow”—a single word, amplified the misinformation to his 220 million followers and added to the debate over this technology. But critics argue that Musk’s engagement with such claims lends collateral to misinformation and accelerates the proliferation of unverified rumours.
The Facts Behind the Southport Attack
On July 29, 2024, 18 years old Axel Rudakubana committed a vicious attack at a Taylor Swift themed dance class killing 3 girls and injuring 10 others, which went down in Southport. Later authorities somewhat belatedly revealed Rudakubana had been in thrall to extremist online ideology, thereby reigniting debate around digital radicalization.
After all the efforts to associate the crime with Netflix’s Adolescence, the reports confirm that the series was already in production months before the attack. It was impossible for the show’s storyline to have been tainted by the incident, since filming didn’t commence until March 2024 and ended in September.
The Series’ Actual Inspirations
Adolescence is not based on a single real life case but in fact takes inspiration from multiple suicidal youth gone wrong and online radicalization of youth. Co-writer and lead actor Stephen Graham explained that the series was based on a number of instances such as that of Brianna Ghey, a teenager who was killed in UK.
On the show’s themes, Graham said: ‘There’s a growing struggle of young men being led into dark online spaces.’ Indeed, we also wanted to understand how this happens, rather than to blame families — it’s just a note only to underline the bigger social pressures behind these tragedies.
The Role of Social Media in Spreading Misinformation
Once again, social media’s role in the spread of misinformation is questioned by Musk’s involvement in the controversy. When high profile figures engage with misleading content, X, under Musk’s ownership, has repeatedly been criticised for not trying to stop the spread of fake information.
The spread of the large amount of misinformation in the Adolescence has fact checkers and journalists debunking the claims in record time, but it also reflects the difficulty of combating false narratives in the digital age.As the debate continues, Adolescence remains a focal point of discussion—not for its intended message about online extremism, but for the controversy sparked by viral misinformation.
