Faced with accusations of interference from Elon Musk in the Old Continent, is a European front emerging? The first stones were laid by the Franco-German couple. Shortly after being called “crazy” then “an incompetent imbecile” by the billionaire, Chancellor Olaf Scholz issued a warning during his New Year’s greetings to the nation: ” You, the citizens, decide (the outcome of the vote). It is not the owners of the social networks who decide.”
A few days later, it was the turn of Emmanuel Macron, whose relations with the head of the German government were not in good shape, to show his muscles to the boss of influence in Europe. Thus, during the traditional annual conference of ambassadors on Monday January 6, the tenant of the Elysée crushed without ever naming the richest man in the world, spokesperson, according to him, “for a new reactionary international” .
And the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre followed in the footsteps of the French head of state by also showing his concern. “I find it concerning that a man with considerable access to social media and significant economic resources would become so directly involved in the internal affairs of other countries.” Among which, the United Kingdom, whose British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, castigated on Monday “those who spread lies and disinformation”.
A clear desire to influence the European elections
A response to the series of messages from Elon Musk posted on his social network X at the end of last week. The boss of Tesla unearthed a ten-year-old file: a vast case of rape and sexual exploitation of more than 1,500 women in the north of England over several decades. In his tweets, the forty-year-old halfway between the business world and politics points to the responsibility of Keir Starmer, then head of the prosecutor’s office, in the poor management of the resolution of the case which involved several men from of Pakistan.
Also, the one who is now whispering in Donald Trump’s ear is calling on the Labor government to resign so that new legislative elections can take place. A scenario which would allow it to replicate the strategy initiated in Germany where a renewal of the Bundestag is expected at the end of February. For several weeks, Elon Musk has increased his support for the AfD, whose classification on the extreme right of the political spectrum is “clearly false”, he noted recently in the columns of the daily on Saturday Worldassuring that only the AfD was able to “save Germany”.
A timid European Commission
Elon Musk’s latest feat across the Rhine, the organization of a live on X on January 9 with Alice Weidel, AfD candidate for the post of chancellor in the legislative elections on February 23. A format which echoes that which was proposed to the Republican candidate three months before the American presidential election of 2024. And while some are worried about the use of right, the response of the European Commission, considered the digital regulator, remains, for the moment, somewhat timid.
If Brussels promises to continue its mission of monitoring the practices of “express your personal opinions”, declared the Commission’s spokesperson for digital, Thomas Regnier, questioned during a press conference on Elon Musk’s use of his social network to support the hard rights in Europe. A mixed reaction which is reminiscent of the episode which pitted the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the former European Commissioner for the Internal Market last August, Thierry Breton.
After learning of the exchange organized on An epistolary initiative which had irritated Brussels. “The timing and wording of the letter were neither coordinated nor approved by the President [Ursula von der Leyen, NDLR] nor by the [commissaires]”, informed Brussels, which had then sharply disavowed its Internal Market Commissioner.