TECH billionaire Elon Musk was branded a “criminal” by Lib Dem leader Ed Davey today as his party called for Parliament to haul him in to answer for comments at a far-right rally.

Sir Ed also demanded an Ofcom investigation into X, the social media platform owned by Mr Musk, accusing him and the company of failing to meet their obligations under the Online Safety Act.

Speaking on Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, the Lib Dem leader said: “Yes,” when asked if he thought the US billionaire was a criminal.

“Not just because of the awful things he’s done, inciting violence, for example, he says a civil war in our country is inevitable, that our democratically elected government should be overthrown,” Sir Ed said.

“They were bad enough. But on his platform, there are examples of adverts pushing people on self-harm, on grooming, even selling videos showing paedophile acts, child sex abuse acts. 

“I think he should be held to account for them. Him personally and his business.”

Mr Musk had told demonstrators at the Unite the Kingdom rally in central London last week: “Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. 

“You either fight back or you die.” 

Sir Ed also said “we’re a party of free speech,” dodging the question of whether the Lib Dems shared the values of those who attended the rally.

The Lib Dem leader, who is engaged in an ongoing social media spat with Mr Musk, will warn in his party conference speech tomorrow that the Tesla boss is “keen to meddle in our democracy” out of “ego, power and wealth.”

The Lib Dems plan to table a motion to summon Mr Musk before MPs under rarely used parliamentary powers, last exercised in 1957.