Musk is courting Germany’s far right. European leaders can’t do much about it

Elon Musk’s plan to host a conversation with the leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on his social networking platform X has angered European politicians, but they will fight to stop it.

The tech billionaire is set to speak with Alice Weidel, head of the AfD – Germany’s far-right party – on Thursday. He is currently on the second ballot before the general election on February 23 on a platform that includes “defense of freedom of speech”, stricter asylum laws, ending financial support for asylum seekers ‘asylum, and the reversal of the planned restrictions on combustion engine cars among other points.

Despite the party’s classification as a “suspected extremist organization” by Germany’s domestic intelligence services – which he tried to fight in court – Musk in December said that “only the AfD can save Germany”, and published an opinion piece in support of the party. in a German newspaper.

“Don’t feed the troll,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the German weekly publication stern when asked about Musk’s attack on himself and other politicians in the country, while German opposition leader Friedrich Merz called Musk’s interference “intrusive and pretentious” when speaking to Funke Media Group.

Outrage has crossed borders, with French President Emmanuel Macron also criticizing Musk and former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, saying the interview would give Weidel “a significant and valuable advantage.”

However, the livestream will not break any laws if the content of the interview is legal, Matthew Holman, a technology, privacy and AI partner at law firm Cripps told CNBC in emailed comments, noting that it was “a important part of the expression of free speech in a healthy democratic system.

“However, if this was the only interview that Musk conducted with the German parties then, failing to give equal prominence to all mainstream views or promoting a party in a polarizing way, it may be that the legislators perceive X and Musk has negatively affected civic discourse and the electoral process in Germany by only interviewing the AfD or failing to have an effective third-party moderator in real time,” added Holman.

CNBC has reached out to X for comment.

The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) – a broad piece of legislation that aims to regulate content on major online platforms, including X – states that platforms are responsible for assessing and mitigating the risks for, among other things, civic and electoral discourse. procedures

European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said in emailed comments that this includes “the obligation to analyze and mitigate the risks arising from any preferential treatment or visibility given to content on a given platform, including the content of Mr. Musk on his own platform.”

He added that the Commission will hold a round table on January 24 to discuss the risks ahead of the German elections and will be joined by the Coordination of German Digital Services and very large online platforms, including X.

While there are currently only a few reports of X’s algorithm pushing content from the AfD, there are many accounts of Musk’s preferred posts, Simone Ruf, deputy head of the Center for Human Rights A member of the Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte, a German advocacy organization for basic and human rights, told CNBC by email.

“If he uses this treatment to support the AfD via political statements and livestreams showing his candidate, this could easily violate the DSA,” he said.

Ruf also pointed out that as the European Commission is already looking for information from X above cuts its content moderation resourcesis able to order interim measures to prevent harm to users. “This could potentially include turning off X’s recommendation algorithm until the federal election,” he suggested.

However, it is not clear whether the demands for such measures would succeed, and how they might play out in practice.

Meanwhile, the German civil society initiative LobbyControl argues that the interview could also be seen as an illegal party donation. The group notes that Musk has clearly stated that his goal is to strengthen the AfD and use the resources of his platform for this, with the interview probably playing more widely that content from regular users of X.

“Therefore, we can really talk about political advertising in this case, because Platform X usually sells this kind of reach for a lot of money,” the group said in a declarationaccording to a CNBC translation. Electoral promotion through third parties is legally seen as a donation, and donations from countries outside the EU are prohibited, LobbyControl reported.

This is not the first time Musk has endorsed right-wing parties and figures in Europe. Until recentlysupported Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform party in the United Kingdom He also launched the tirades against the current British governmentled by Labour’s Keir Starmer, asking whether “America should” free the people of Great Britain.