The German government on Monday accused US billionaire Elon Musk of trying to influence the February elections with articles supporting the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, even though he suggested they were “nonsense”.
Musk, who is to serve the new Donald Trump administration as an external adviser, in a guest opinion for the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, considered the AfD to be Germany's last hope, which prompted the editor of the comments to resign in protest.
“It is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal elections” with X posts and opinions, a German government spokesman said.
Musk is free to express his opinion, the spokesman said, adding: “After all, freedom of opinion also covers the biggest nonsense.”
The German government accuses Elon Musk of trying to influence the upcoming elections after he expressed support for the far-right AfD party in an article. Musk's article was published over the weekend in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper and was met with criticism from politicians and the resignation of the newspaper's opinion editor.
Musk, the world's richest man, defended his right to influence German politics due to his “significant investments” and praised the AfD's approach to regulation, taxes and market deregulation.
His intervention came as Germans prepared to vote in parliamentary elections scheduled for February 23 following the collapse of the coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Musk also called for Scholz's resignation after a car plowed into a crowd at a Christmas market on December 20, killing five people.
Mainstream parties have pledged not to cooperate with the AfD
The AfD is currently second in polls, behind the main opposition conservatives, and may be able to upset the election of a center-right or center-left majority. Mainstream German parties have pledged not to cooperate with the AfD at national level.
A government spokesman said Musk's support for the AfD constituted “a recommendation to vote for a party that is being monitored (by national intelligence) on suspicion of being a right-wing extremist and has already been designated as a partial right-wing extremist.”
German politicians have sharply criticized Musk for his support for the AfD, with Scholz, co-chair of the Social Democrats, comparing him to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Both of them want to influence our elections and, specifically, support AfD's enemies of democracy. They want Germany to be weakened and thrown into chaos,” Lars Klingbeil told the Funke press group on Monday.
Friedrich Merz, the leader of the opposition Christian Democrats and the current favorite to succeed Scholz as chancellor, told Funke that Musk's comments were “intrusive and pretentious.”