The billionaire’s influence and messages cannot be ignored in Europe, says academy researcher Matti Ylönen.
Academy researcher at the University of Helsinki Matti Ylönen like a billionaire Elon Musk’s political activity as exceptional. According to Ylönen, similar actions from a billionaire have never been seen before in history.
Many European leaders are concerned about Musk’s influence on the countries’ internal politics. In recent weeks, the world’s richest man has taken a strong stance on European political issues on social media.
Especially Germany and Great Britain have been the subject of Musk’s comments, and it has been speculated that Musk wants to influence the European elections with his actions. For example, in Germany, parliamentary elections are held in February.
Ylönen, who visited morning, takes, for example, the ways of acting and influencing the rich of the 1990s and 2000s.
– There have been socially active billionaires in the past, but their global activity has been more oriented towards charity projects.
Ylönen also highlights the fan culture that has formed around Musk and its special features.
– He is one of the richest people in the world and still manages to maintain an image of himself as some kind of rebel.
Musk can get other rich people to become politically active as well
While Europe is worried about what kind of influence the super-rich Musk can have, the connection between money and power is now being seen in an exceptional way in the United States as well.
– American politics has never, at least in modern history, been so focused around money and a few of the richest people in the world, says Ylönen.
So what does Musk aim for by meddling in European politics? According to Ylönen, in order to get an answer, one would have to get inside Musk’s head, but what is coming out clearly has a political agenda.
Musk is already an extremely influential business leader. The new president of the United States Donald Trump might connect him even more strongly to the core of power. Therefore, Musk’s messages cannot be ignored in Europe either, says Ylönen.
In addition to Musk, the founder and CEO of the technology company Meta Mark Zuckerberg has tried to get closer to Trump. For example, Meta, the owner of the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, has donated one million dollars to Trump’s inauguration fund.
Ylönen does not rule out the possibility that Musk’s actions would inspire other rich people to become politically active.
– People copy these kinds of things knowingly or unknowingly. I believe that this will not only end with Musk, Ylönen estimates.