Elon Musk’s plan to host a chat with Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader on his social media platform X has infuriated European politicians, who are struggling to block him. It will be a struggle.
The tech billionaire is scheduled to meet Thursday with Alice Weidel, the leader of Germany’s far-right AfD party. The group is currently campaigning to “defend freedom of speech” ahead of the general election on February 23rd, calling for stricter refugee laws, the end of financial support for asylum seekers and planned restrictions on internal combustion engine cars. It is currently polling in second place with a platform of revocation.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk said in December, despite the party being classified as a “suspected extremist organization” by Germany’s domestic intelligence service, which he intends to fight in court. , published an opinion paper supporting the party. It was published in a German newspaper.
“Don’t feed the trolls,” outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a German weekly. stern When asked about the attacks on Mr. Musk himself and other politicians in the country, German opposition leader Friedrich Merz described Mr. Musk’s intervention as “intrusive and overblown.” funke media group.
Anger crossed borders, with French President Emmanuel Macron also criticizing Mr Musk and former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, saying the meeting would bring “significant and valuable benefits” to Mr Weidel.
However, Matthew Holman, a technology, privacy and AI partner at law firm Cripps, told CNBC in an emailed comment that the livestream does not violate any laws if the content of the interview is legal. He noted that it is “an important part of the expression of freedom.” Speech in a healthy democratic system. ”
“But if this was the only interview Mr. Musk gave with a German political party, it would seem that Mr. Lawmakers may perceive that Mr. Musk is having a negative impact on the public debate.”And Germany’s election process may be limited to interviews with the AfD or effective third-party real-time moderators.” It’s being done in absentia,” Holman added.
CNBC has reached out to Mr. X for comment.
The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) is a wide-ranging law aimed at regulating content on large online platforms, including It stipulates that there is a responsibility to reduce the minutes.
In an emailed comment, European Commission Spokesperson Thomas Renier said this included “risks arising from the preferential treatment and visibility given to content on certain platforms, including content on Mr. Musk’s own platform.” This includes the obligation to analyze and mitigate.
He added that the European Commission will hold a roundtable on January 24 to discuss risks ahead of the German general election, which will also include Germany’s Digital Services Coordination Agency and very large online platforms, including X. Ta.
There are currently only a few reports of X’s algorithm pushing content from the AfD, but many reports of Musk’s own posts being preferred, said a user at German aviation advocacy group Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte. said Simone Ruff, Deputy Director of the Rights Center. spoke to CNBC via email about basic human rights and human rights.
“If he uses this treatment to support the AfD through political statements and livestreams introducing candidates, he could easily violate the DSA,” she said.
Ruf also pointed out that the European Commission has already requested information from Company X regarding the reduction of content management resources, so it could order interim measures to prevent harm to users. “This could include disabling Company X’s recommendation algorithm until the federal election,” she suggested.
However, it is unclear whether requests for such measures will be successful and how they will play out in practice.
Meanwhile, Germany’s civil society initiative Lobby Control claims that the interview could even be considered an illegal political party donation. The group points out that Musk has made it clear that his goal is to uplift the AfD and uses the resources of his platform to do so, and that the interview is based on more content from regular X users. It is also likely that it will be widely deployed.
“So, in this case, we can certainly talk about political advertising, since Platform X typically sells this kind of reach at a high price,” the group said in a statement. statementaccording to CNBC translation. Campaign promotion through third parties is legally considered a donation, and donations from countries outside the EU are prohibited, Lobby Control warned.
This is not the first time Musk has endorsed a right-wing party or figure in Europe. Until recently, he supported Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform Party. He also launched a fierce attack on the current British government led by Labor’s Keir Starmer, asking, “Should the United States ‘liberate the British people’?”
