Emmanuel Macron has added his voice to the growing chorus of European criticism of Elon Musk, accusing the world’s richest man of directly intervening in the continent’s democratic processes, including Germany’s snap federal elections next month.
The French president on Monday joined the Norwegian and British prime ministers and a German government spokesman to respond to a spate of hostile posts by Musk that endorsed far-right political parties and attacked left-wing politicians in Europe.
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“Ten years ago, who would have imagined that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and directly intervene in elections, including in Germany,” Macron said.
In a speech to French ambassadors, the French president, who had previously cultivated a constructive relationship with Musk, most recently inviting him to the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, refrained from mentioning the billionaire by name, as did the first Norway’s center-left minister. Jonas Gahr store.
However, there was no doubt who each leader was referring to.
“I am concerned that a man with enormous access to social media and enormous economic resources would become so directly involved in the internal affairs of other countries,” Støre told public broadcaster NRK. “This is not how things should be between democracies and allies.”
In response to a question about what would happen if Musk became directly involved in Norwegian politics, Støre added that he hoped the country’s politicians – who face a general election in September – would “warn against such efforts and distance themselves from them.”
A German government spokesperson mentioned Musk by name, insisting that his influence on voters was limited. “In this country normal people, sensible people and decent people are a large majority,” the spokesman said at a regular news conference in Berlin.
“We act as if Mr. Musk’s statements on Twitter could influence a country of 84 million people with falsehoods or half-truths or expressions of opinion,” the spokesperson added. “This is simply not the case.”
Last week, Berlin accused Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, of trying to influence the country’s crucial February 23 federal election with a controversial guest op-ed for the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
The billionaire will also take part in a live-streamed hour-long talk with the leader of the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, on X later this week. In a post last month he said that “only the AfD can save Germany.”
Musk has claimed that the party, which is second in the polls, is the “last spark of hope” for Germany. He has also called the country’s Social Democratic Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, “a fool” and its president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, an “anti-democratic tyrant.”
Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said on Monday that Musk’s support for the AfD was a “logical and systematic” move by the billionaire for a weaker Europe that would not be able to regulate social media and other tech companies as tightly. .
Scholz himself said over the weekend in an interview with Stern magazine that he would not make any effort to engage in dialogue with Musk. “I don’t believe in courting Mr. Musk’s favor. “I’m happy to leave that in the hands of others,” he said. “The rule is: don’t feed the troll.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday defended his record after days of hostile attacks by Musk, saying that people who spread lies and misinformation online are not interested in supporting those affected, only themselves.
Musk’s tirade has focused on child sexual abuse scandals that first emerged during Starmer’s tenure as director of public prosecutions, demanding a new public inquiry and calling for the Labor prime minister to resign.
Responding to a question about Musk, Starmer said he was “not going to single this out on Elon Musk,” but added that “a line has been crossed” with some of the criticism. Musk later described the prime minister as “absolutely despicable” in a new X post.