Technology billionaire Elon Musk on Thursday livestreamed on X a chat with Alice Weidel, leader of Germany's far-right party, raising concerns across Europe about meddling by the world's richest man.
With an election in Germany next month, Mr Musk told Ms Weidel, a co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party and its candidate for chancellor, that he was “strongly recommending that people vote for AfD", using the party's abbreviation.
During the conversation, both agreed that Germany’s taxes are too high, that there is too much immigration and that it was a mistake for the country to shut down nuclear power plants. More than 190,000 X users tuned into the conversation.
Mr Musk has previously used X to endorse AfD, and he wrote an article for the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, claiming that Germany under centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz is “teetering on the edge of economic and cultural collapse".
The forays into politics by the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive is raising alarm across Europe after he worked last year to help re-elect Donald Trump in the US.
Mr Musk has demanded the release of jailed UK anti-Islam extremist Tommy Robinson and called British Prime Minister Keir Starmer an evil tyrant who should be in prison. In Poland, there are concerns he could use his influence to interfere in the country's presidential election in May.
His online chat was monitored by watchdogs from the European Commission, which has accused X of breaking the 27-nation bloc’s sweeping digital rulebook for cleaning up social media platforms and protecting internet users from online harm.
Commission officials say Mr Musk has the right to express his views but that the rulebook, known as the Digital Services Act, is designed to minimalise risks that platforms will be misused with illegal content, including hate speech or election-related misinformation. The commission has been investigating whether X complies.
In preliminary findings issued last year, Brussels said the platform was in breach because its blue checkmarks originally intended as verification badges are deceptive, and because it falls short on transparency and accountability requirements. Regulators are still investigating other possible offences.
In Germany, the AfD has risen in popularity, with polls showing that it is now the second-most popular party in the country after the mainstream conservatives, as a taboo around the far right weakens across Europe. But the mainstream conservative Christian Democrats are favoured to win the election, with the latest polling showing them at 31 per cent support, compared with 20 per cent for the AfD.
The AfD has been put under observation by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency for suspected extremism, and mainstream parties have shunned working with it. The party has strongly rejected the designation, portraying it as a political attempt to discredit it.
The AfD was formed in 2013 and has moved steadily to the right. Its platform initially centred on opposition to bailouts for struggling eurozone members, but its vehement opposition to then-chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to allow in large numbers of refugees and other migrants in 2015 established the party as a significant political force.
Its support has grown as a result of discontent with Mr Scholz’s three-party coalition government. Its rising popularity also reflects a growing frustration with Germany’s involvement in the EU and Nato, and its strong alliance with the US, all of which are viewed as eroding national sovereignty.
