The German government has accused Elon Musk of trying to interfere with their nation’s election campaign after multiple endorsements of the far-right party AfD.
The German government is accusing tech billionaire Elon Musk of attempting to interfere with their election after he endorsed the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) multiple times online.
A government spokesperson stated that freedom of speech “covers the greatest nonsense” after Musk’s endorsements of AfD.
“It is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election,” said the government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann.
“After all, freedom of opinion also covers the greatest nonsense.”
Musk is no stranger to stating his opinion on international politics, specifically when it comes to Germany as well. Musk has called the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, “a fool” on social media platform X, however, the government is more so concerned over his recent calls to German citizens to back the AfD.
Federal authorities in Germany currently classify AfD as a suspected extremist party, according to reports from the Guardian. The party has been accused of interfering with Europe’s top economy.
Musk recently wrote on X: “Only the AfD can save Germany.” He also shared a video of German rightwing influencer Naomi Seibt criticizing Freidrich Merz, the current conservative frontrunner.
Musk also wrote in a guest editorial spot in the broadsheet Welt am Sonntag, and in that piece argued that Germany was on the brink of economic and cultural collapse. Eva Marie Kogel, the editor of the newspaper’s opinion section, posted online that she was resigning from the publication in protest of Musk’s article being ran.
Merz told the Funke media group that he was concerned over the interference Musk was having on the election.
“I cannot recall in the history of western democracies a comparable case of interference in the election campaign of a friendly country.”
Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier specifically criticized X last week in a speech where he announced his decision to dissolve parliament and call the election in February.
Steinmeier warned of the “outside influence” on the campaign and discussed “open and blatant attempts” on X to sway the vote, indirectly calling out Musk as the CEO of the platform as well.
The AfD party has been working for multiple months to make connections with Trump and his camp, of which Musk is a part of. The election is currently expected to be called on February 23rd.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
