As he attempts to bring his recent political triumph to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk is encountering strong opposition in European cities.
In separate speeches on Monday, the leaders of four European nations—France, Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom—denounced his influence and cautioned that Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, shouldn’t get involved in their nations’ politics.
Musk, the richest person in the world and a close friend of Donald Trump, has been attacking international leaders on social media. He has been writing constantly on his app, X, and is attempting to replicate the impact he had on American politics the previous year. Musk has frequently used his social media posts to support far-right candidates in different European nations.
Musk’s message has caused division, and on Monday, the leaders of some of the biggest and most influential nations in Europe seemed to be fuming over it.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, made fun of Musk in a foreign policy speech in Paris without mentioning him.
Ten years ago, who would have thought that the owner of one of the biggest social media platforms in the world would directly influence elections, including those in Germany? The Associated Press reports that Macron made reference to Musk’s support of a far-right German political party.
In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s administration specifically denounced Musk and said his social media posts would not resonate with the public.
According to the national channel Deutsche Welle, a government spokesperson stated that the majority of people in this country are normal, sensible, and decent.
We behave as though Mr. Musk’s remarks… could sway an 84 million-person nation with lies, partial truths, or opinions. “This is just not true,” he stated.
During a press conference concerning child sexual abuse cases, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was questioned about Musk. When he was a prosecutor, Musk accused Starmer of failing to do enough to stop the abuses. Starmer denied the claim without naming Musk, calling it a self-serving fabrication.
Victims are not of interest to those who are disseminating false information as widely as possible. According to Sky News, he claimed that they are only concerned in themselves. According to Starmer, street violence provides those individuals with a vicarious delight.
In addition, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr St re criticized Musk’s political influence in an interview on Monday, despite Norway having been a key testing ground for Tesla for ten years.
According to Reuters, he told public radio NRK, “I find it worrying that a man with enormous access to social media and huge economic resources involves himself so directly in the internal affairs of other countries.”
He stated that the relationship between democracies and allies should not be this way.
Although it was unclear if the four governments had coordinated their remarks, the fact that they were made just a few hours apart gave the impression that they were speaking against Musk as a single entity.
A request for comment on the remarks was not answered by Musk. He took great pride in his ability to influence discourse, at least online, in posts on X on Monday. He conducted a survey to find out if Americans should free the British people from their oppressive regime. Under the leadership of far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, he advocated for a possible internet service agreement between SpaceX and the Italian government. Additionally, he applauded the departure of Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, who has also been the target of Musk’s online ire in recent weeks. He also made conjectures on the prospect of Greenland joining the US.
Born and reared in South Africa and now a naturalized U.S. citizen, Musk has a history of delivering political commentary on X, including a string of posts in the last two years that had analysts wonder about his predictions of a European civil war.
Musk turned X into an echo chamber for pro-Trump opinions and accounts, spending over $250 million last year to support the Trump campaign and other Republican candidates in the US.
Musk has acted as a sort of traveling worldwide envoy for Trump in a number of capacities since the election. According to the New York Times, he spoke with Iran’s ambassador to the UN in November, accompanied Trump to Paris last month for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, and briefly participated in a phone conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Wall Street Journal claims that Musk has been in constant communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2023, he also held dinner in San Francisco with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other tech CEOs.
Musk is also a co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, a Trump commission that is expected to make broad recommendations regarding deregulation and expenditure cutbacks.
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