He demanded new elections in Britain, promoted the far right in Germany, criticized the European Commission… and that’s just the beginning. Elon Musk is putting pressure on the far right in Europe, where progressives are debating how, or even whether, to contain it.
The interventions of the richest man in the world, who also owns one of the largest megaphones on the planet, the social media platform .
Now, the increasingly powerful boss of Tesla and SpaceX is turning his sights to Europe, where many governments are already grappling with the rise of populism and the far right.
“(Keir) Starmer must go and must face charges for his complicity in the worst mass crime in the history of Britain,” the billionaire recently posted.
He was referring to the British prime minister’s time as chief state prosecutor in England and Wales, which coincided with a child grooming scandal, which he posted about repeatedly on Friday.
Musk also called for the release from prison of Tommy Robinson, an extremist firebrand, and boosted the extremist anti-immigration party Reform UK, whose leader Nigel Farage recently met.
On Friday he shared a message from former Prime Minister Liz Truss calling for the end of the state. bbc funds.
As in the United States, Musk is increasingly popular among young Britons, according to the Savanta polling institute.
For them, “the lines between perceptions of success and wealth become increasingly blurred with politics,” Chris Hopkins, director of political research at Savanta, told AFP on Friday.
Downing Street has so far refrained from addressing Musk’s comments, other than the occasional light rebuke and an emphasis that he “looks forward” to working with the Trump administration.
A senior British government minister’s response Friday to Musk’s latest attacks over the exploitation scandal highlighted the delicacy of the leaders’ tightrope act.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said ITV News that Musk’s comments were “misjudged and certainly misinformed.”
But he quickly added: “We are willing to work with Elon Musk, who I believe has an important role to play with his social media platform in helping us and other countries address this serious issue.”
“As 2025 begins, Musk is no longer a reluctant commentator on British politics, but a powerful player within it,” political commentator Patrick Maguire wrote in The Times on Friday.
The “government needs to figure out how to deal with Elon Musk and his interventions, because this is not sustainable,” he posted News from heaven Political reporter Ben Bloch on X on Friday, as Musk once again called for new elections.
Britain is not Musk’s only target in Europe.
He met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a leading figure on the radical right, when the latter visited Trump in Florida last month.
The businessman has also been accused of interference by the German government for his strong support for the far-right AfD party ahead of parliamentary elections.
On January 9, he will host a conversation with party leader Alice Weidel about X.
The 53-year-old businessman also called the judges who recently annulled Romania’s presidential election amid suspicions of Russian interference “dictators.”
Musk is also an enthusiastic supporter of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the country’s most right-wing leader since 1945, who calls him a “genius.”
Musk’s political initiatives are closely tied to his economic interests, experts suggest.
For Musk and Trump, “democracy, debate, disagreement and state welfare systems get in the way of business,” said Ilan Kapoor, a professor at York University in Toronto known for his critical research on neoliberalism. .
“That is why they welcome more authoritarian forms of government, which they believe can function more efficiently, eliminating political opposition and reducing the role of government (although the contradiction is that they need a lot of state intervention when it comes to their ‘law and order’ agenda).”
Musk also criticized the European Commission, calling the functioning of the European Union undemocratic and demanding a greater role for the European Parliament.
He has spoken as the EU, grappling with rampant misinformation on social media, attempts to regulate its X network under a landmark new content law.
Former European Commissioner Vera Jourova even described Musk as a “promoter of evil” in an interview with political last October.
In December, researchers at the European Council on Foreign Relations warned that Musk could use X “to mobilize citizens and far-right parties to increase the political cost for EU decision-makers carrying out repression.” ”.
