Macron hits out at Elon Musk for ‘directly intervening in elections’

Politicians across Europe have issued stern warnings to Elon Musk over the tech billionaire’s perceived meddling in their countries’ internal affairs. Emmanuel Macron has become the latest leader to criticize the X boss, accusing him of intervening directly in the democratic processes of sovereign nations. ‘Ten years ago, who could have imagined it if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany ,’ Macron told ambassadors at an annual foreign policy speech today. World’s richest man Musk has launched a series of attacks on German politicians and voiced his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of elections in the country.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who Musk labeled a ‘fool’ after his coalition government collapsed in November, said at the weekend he is staying ‘cool’ against critical personal comments made by the US tech tycoon. He added however that he finds it worrying that Musk, who backed the AfD in an opinion piece in a major German paper last year, makes the effort to get involved in a general election by endorsing the far-right. German opposition leader Friedrich Merz also called Musk’s remarks ‘intrusive and pretentious’, while Vice-chancellor Robert Habeck warned him: ‘Hands off our democracy, Mr Musk!’ ‘The combination of immense wealth, control over information and networks, the use of artificial intelligence and the will to ignore rules is a frontal attack on our democracy,’ the Green Party politician told Der Spiegel.

Meanwhile, Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, said Monday he found it ‘worrying’ that Musk, ‘a man with enormous access to social media’ would be so ‘directly involved in the internal affairs of other countries.’ ‘This is not the way things should be between democracies and allies,’ he told broadcaster NRK. Musk, who is a close ally of Donald Trump and spent more than $250 million (£210m) helping in his re-election campaign, is set to take on a new advisory role in the incoming administration. In the UK, ministers have urged Musk to get off social media today as brutal clashes with Keir Starmer escalated.

The Prime Minister slammed those ‘spreading lies and misinformation’ following days of incendiary posts by Musk over the historical grooming gangs scandal in northern England. Musk accused the center-left Labour leader of being ‘deeply complicit in the mass [sexual assaults]’ and ‘utterly despicable’. He then sparked backlash after he asked followers on X whether the US should ‘liberate’ Britain from its ‘tyrannical government’. The Lib Dems have called for Washington’s ambassador to be summoned to explain why one of Donald Trump’s closest allies is mooting the overthrow of the British government. Sir Keir mounted a robust defense as he took questions after laying out NHS waiting list plans this morning.

He said ‘child sexual exploitation is utterly sickening’ and victims had been ‘let down’ – but insisted he had tackled the issues ‘head on’ as director of public prosecutions. The premier accused opposition politicians of ‘amplifying what the far-right is saying’ after falling to act ‘for 14 long years’. He insisted he would fight the ‘poison’ from extremists, arguing that those who are ‘spreading lies and misinformation… are not interested in victims, they are interested in themselves’. Sir Keir said he was making a ‘general point’ and did not want to ‘individualize’ the row to Musk. The PM’s Cabinet allies said that Musk needs an online ‘detox’, and even hinted at a boycott of his X social media site.

Germany’s Scholz said in comments published Saturday by the German magazine Stern that there is ‘nothing new’ in criticism by ‘rich media entrepreneurs who do not appreciate social democratic politics and do not hold back with their opinions.’ ‘You have to stay cool,’ Scholz, a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), told Stern. ‘I find it much more worrying than such insults that Musk is supporting a party like the AfD, which is in parts right-wing extremist, which preaches rapprochement with Putin’s Russia and wants to weaken transatlantic relations,’ Scholz said. Former finance minister Christian Lindner also warned that Musk should not ‘jump to hasty conclusions’ from afar, stating that the AfD is ‘against freedom and the economy – and it is a right-wing extremist party.’

The AfD is monitored by Germany’s domestic intelligence service on suspicion of being right-wing extremist and has already been recognized as such in some individual German states. Germany will hold an early parliamentary election on February 23 after Scholz’s three-party coalition collapsed in November in a dispute over how to revitalize the country’s stagnant economy. The vice chancellor and economy minister, Robert Habeck, also warned Musk against getting involved in Germany’s politics. ‘Hands off our democracy, Mr. Musk!’ Habeck said in an interview with the Spiegel magazine. ‘The combination of enormous wealth, control over information and networks, the use of artificial intelligence and the willingness to ignore rules is a frontal attack on our democracy,’ said Habeck, the Green Party’s candidate for chancellor.

Musk recently caused uproar after backing the AfD in an opinion piece for the Welt am Sonntag, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor, Eva Marie Kogel, in protest. ‘The AfD is the last spark of hope for this country,’ Musk wrote in his translated commentary. The Tesla Motors CEO also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the country’s condition. The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party. Musk has publicly backed Weidel nevertheless, and has invited her to hold a live chat on his platform X this week.

‘The normal people, the sensible people, the decent people are far in the majority in this country,’ a government spokesman said a week after the government accused the tycoon of using his social media site X to try and promote the interests of the AfD. ‘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,’ he added.

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