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Fresh off his winning bet on President-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 election, Elon Musk has been ramping up his efforts to replicate his political influence across the pond. But several European leaders have rebuked his attempts to meddle in their politics by boosting far-right figures and parties.
Musk, who has used his social media platform X to amplify conspiracy theories and promote far-right talking points in the U.S., has praised the far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of that country’s elections, and has called for the release of Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist in England who is serving time for contempt of court after repeating libelous allegations against a Syrian refugee.
Musk has also leveled personal insults at several European heads of state. He called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “incompetent fool” after the deadly Christmas market attack in Magdeburg. He called U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer “evil” and accused him of not doing enough against gangs of mostly Muslim Pakistani men in sexual abuse cases that stretch back more than a decade. Musk suggested on X that the U.S. “liberate” the Brits from their “tyrannical government.”
Several European leaders have started to push back on Musk, sometimes in remarks that do not name him but are clearly in reference to the Tesla CEO. Scholz’s office, for example, rejected the idea that Musk’s bully pulpit would have any effect, national broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported: “We act as if Mr. Musk’s statements ... could influence a country of 84 million people with untruths or half-truths or expressions of opinion. This is simply not the case.”
French President Emmanuel Macron also alluded to Musk’s attempts to interfere, saying in a speech on Monday, “Who could have imagined, 10 years ago, that the owner of one of the world’s largest social networks would intervene directly in elections, including in Germany?”
Still, Musk’s attempts to influence European politics have caused alarm: The richest man in the world stands to reap an enormous return on his investment in Trump, and with his large and unconstrained platform on X, he is in a position to inspire further chaos in Europe.