— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) October 13, 2025 The far-right agitator, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, refused to hand the officer his mobile because it had ‘journalistic material on it’ in July 2024, a court has heard. Robinson, who denies failing to comply with the counter-terrorism powers, said in a video recorded before he entered court today: ‘Thankfully, I haven’t had to beg for donations today because Elon Musk has picked up the legal bill for this absolute state persecution.’ While their pairing might seem odd to outside viewers, it’s not the first time that the American billionaire has been linked with the former leader of the English Defence League, however. How long have they known each other for? One of the pair’s first public interactions was in November 2023, a year after Musk took over X, then called Twitter. Robinson was banned from the social media platform in 2018 for ‘hateful conduct’, having been accused of posting Islamophobic content. Returning to the site, Robinson thanked Musk for reinstating his account. Tommy Robinson arriving at Westminster Magistrates’ Court (Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire) ‘I’ve been censored, attacked, slandered and imprisoned for shining a light on uncomfortable truths that our government wish to hide, the public are now aware I was telling the truth,’ he wrote. ‘We have lots to do.’ Handing Robinson his X account back significantly boosted his profile and helped spread far-right ideology, according to hate speech monitoring groups. By August the following year, the billionaire SpaceX and Tesla boss began to amplify Robinson’s posts amid fears that misinformation had ignited anti-immigration riots in the UK. In January this year, Musk did something that, at the time, was his favourite hobby – he had an opinion on British politics. In a post, he wrote: ‘Why is Tommy Robinson in a solitary confinement prison for telling the truth?’ ‘Free Tommy Robinson!’ he posted on X the following day.