Germany accuses Elon Musk of election interference with AfD support

Elon Musk expressed his support for the AfD, writing on X that “only the AfD can save Germany”. Photo / Getty Images

Germany’s government on Monday accused Elon Musk of trying to influence the country’s upcoming election, set for February, after he wrote an opinion piece for a German newspaper last weekend doubling down on his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

“It is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election,” deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said in reference to Musk’s posts backing the AfD on X, the social media site he owns, and the opinion piece.

Musk expressed his support for the AfD this month, writing on X that “only the AfD can save Germany” – an assertion dismissed by the country’s leader, Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Musk’s German-language op-ed, published online on Saturday by Welt am Sonntag, prompted the resignation of the newspaper’s opinion editor in protest.

In it, Musk wrote the AfD was the “last spark of hope for this country” and praised the populist party’s approach to regulation, taxes and market deregulation. His article ran eight weeks before Germany’s early election, set for February 23 following the collapse of the country’s coalition government in early November.

Musk – an acolyte and confidant of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has appointed the tech billionaire to lead a new commission focused on government efficiency – was free to express his opinion, Hoffmann said on Monday. “After all, freedom of opinion also covers the greatest nonsense,” she said.

The AfD has soared in popularity since its founding in 2013, largely because of its anti-migration and anti-establishment stance. The party has been designated by Germany’s domestic intelligence service as a “suspected extremist” organisation, while its regional branches in three of Germany’s 16 states are classified as “confirmed right-wing extremist”.

In an address last week, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned of “external influence” over the upcoming election and pointed to efforts on the platform X to “openly and blatantly” exert influence.

Opinion polls this month show the AfD in second position behind the conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), about 20% and 31% respectively. But all of Germany’s political parties have ruled out forming a coalition with the AfD.

In the opinion piece, Musk argued his “significant investments” in Germany, namely Tesla’s first “gigafactory” in Europe, qualify him to speak out about Europe’s largest economy – and he also questioned the AfD’s “far-right” label.

“Portraying the AfD as far-right is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Come on!” Musk wrote.

Friedrich Merz – the chancellor candidate for the CDU/CSU alliance who is widely expected to become Germany’s next leader – criticised the op-ed as “intrusive and presumptuous”.

“I cannot recall, in the history of Western democracies, that there has been a comparable case of interference in the electoral campaign of a friendly country,” Merz told Germany’s Funke media group on Sunday.

Lars Klingbeil, the leader of Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) party, compared Musk to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Both want to influence our elections and are deliberately supporting the AfD, the enemies of democracy. They want Germany to be weakened and plunged into chaos,” he said, according to Funke reports.

The accusations of election interference come on the heels of warnings from Germany’s domestic intelligence services, which last month said other states could attempt to influence the February election by means of disinformation, cyberattacks, espionage and sabotage. Cyber​​attacks by Russia posed a particular threat, officials said.

Since acquiring what was then known as Twitter in 2022, Musk has increasingly used X to promote his right-wing political views to his more than 200 million followers. During and since the US presidential election, he has used X to align himself with Trump’s positions on crime, immigration and the economy.

Musk has also used X to express support for some of the most prominent and polarising figures of the right. He often posts about his support for Argentine President Javier Milei and was invited to a live online appearance with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Musk’s AfD op-ed ignited discord even within Welt’s editorial office, with opinion editor Eva Marie Kogel resigning in protest.

“Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. I handed in my resignation yesterday after the article went to print,” she wrote on X.