Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has branded Elon Musk’s X social media platform a potential “threat to democracy”.
Speaking on December 27 after officially dissolving the country’s parliament ahead of snap elections in February, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician referred to X as a possible vector for foreign election interference.
“External influence is a threat to democracy — whether it is covert, as was evident recently in the elections in Romania, or open and blatant, as is currently being practised particularly intensively on platform X,” he said.
🇩🇪🇺🇸 German politicians attack X!
German president Steinmeier on the upcoming election: "External influence is a danger to democracy, whether it is covert as in Romania or open and blatant, as is currently being practiced particularly intensively on the platform X." pic.twitter.com/H4ymQELYMz
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) December 27, 2024
“I am firmly opposed to all attempts at external influence. The voting decision is made solely by the citizens of Germany who are eligible to vote,” he said.
Steinmeier added that all forms of “hatred and violence must have no place” in the upcoming election campaign, stating the country must work to “ban violence”.
His comments about X and potential external influence came after its owner Musk caused unrest among the country’s political elite with his open endorsement of the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Almost all German parties — including the President’s SPD — have viewed the AfD as too right-wing to work with. Despite that, Musk has said he now viewed it as the only group capable of “saving” Germany.
“Only AfD can save Germany,” he repeatedly posted on X over December, including in the wake of a terror attack on a Christmas market in the country. That incident occurred on December 20, when a BMW ploughed through the market in Magdeburg, in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, killing a child and four women and leaving hundreds injured.
Politicians across Europe have accused Musk of engaging in foreign election interference with his AfD declarations. The European Union’s former internal market commissioner Thierry Breton called for a Brussels crackdown on the X platform.
“A few weeks before the next elections in Germany and at the time of the heinous attack in Magdeburg, Elon Musk — the world’s top influencer on X and a potential member of the future US administration — openly supports the far-right AfD party.”
“Isn’t this the very definition of foreign interference?” he said on December 21.
“We must put an end to the double standards and apply DSA in Europe.”
Polling has indicated the AfD would be set for a second-place finish in the coming election behind the centrist Christian Democrat parties.
Steinmeier’s SPD has looked likely to finish a distant third, with the party almost certain to see it lose the country’s federal chancellorship, currently held by Olaf Scholz.
Elon Musk, billionaire tech magnate turned potential US government official, has ignited controversy in Europe after publicly endorsing Germany’s populist-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. https://t.co/7sYLK2Si6v
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) December 23, 2024
