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Gary Lineker has turned to Elon Musk, as owner of Twitter, for the threats sent to his 30-year-old son George from an anonymous account via the social network. He had received phrases such as "you must be burned at the stake," as well as some insults in the days of the fiery controversy over the tweets of his father, a former football champion and television commentator suspended by the BBC for comparing the government's language on immigration to that of Germany in the 1930s, only to be later reinstated by popular acclaim.
"Is all this acceptable?" Lineker wrote in a tweet addressed to Musk in a sort of appeal to strengthen controls against possible abuse and threats on social media by the so-called keyboard lions. Earlier in the day, the sports commentator's son had 'tweeted' referring to his online experience: 'Social media is crazy, isn't it? suffered so much abuse." The Lineker case effectively ended with a backtracking by the BBC and according to the official version with an agreement that provides for an independent review of the internal guidelines on the political impartiality required on paper of those who work in state television, even from freelance and also in the private use of social media.
Lines that the former footballer had been accused of having violated with his tweet and the indirect reference to Nazi Germany. Gary Lineker had been suspended for a tweet in which he compared the language used by British government ministers to talk about asylum seekers to that used by Germany in the 1930s.
BBC director general Tim Davie announced the reinstatement decision with a statement in which he also spoke of a review of the regulations on the use of social networks by those who work for the BBC. He also defended the decision to suspend Lineker over the weekend: "It wasn't easy, but I think it was proportionate and it was the right thing for the BBC to do." Gary Lineker commented on the decision with a series of tweets, in which he thanked them for their solidarity and said: "As difficult as these days have been, they are simply not comparable to those of those who have to flee their homes to escape war or a persecution."