The Memo: Elon Musk and the threat to European democracy

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Elon Musk and the threat to European democracy

James Westmacott - 20 January 2025

As the lingering threat of Elon Musk’s social media tirade looms ever large, French President Emmanuel Macron has urged the EU to limit the billionaire’s information-influencing power. What started with the odd controversial take on his newly owned X platform has ultimately led to a far deeper and more alarming intervention into the continent’s democratic processes. Strongly allied with US President-elect Donald Trump, Musk initially made inroads into US politics before befriending a number of the European continent’s far-right populist leaders. At the same time, Musk has used his social media platform to promote their conspiracies and contentious debates. 

The primary tactic has been confirmed to be that Musk has used X to elevate stories on controversial topics such as illegal immigration, population decline, and his perceived clampdown on freedom of speech. Musk has additionally engineered the site to augment his own tweets and his topics of interest, therefore controlling the media narrative and influencing X users and his 212million followers. Through his purchase of the platform, Musk has essentially been able to deliberately select themes of discussion he knows will whip up anger and discontentment, leading to a backlash against incumbent and typically mainstream political parties. In the UK, Musk has aligned himself with Reform leader Nigel Farage and has also called for the release of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who is currently imprisoned for contempt of court. 

Ahead of the German federal election in late February, Musk has used X to post comments expressing his support for the anti-immigration and anti-Islamic Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party categorised as right-wing extremist by German security services. In an attempt to further boost the party in the polls, the X owner hosted an interview on the site with AfD leader Alice Weidel, thus advancing the party’s exposure at crunch time. This has caused Macron and fellow European governments to question what can legally be done to significantly weaken Musk’s ability to intervene in domestic political structures. Many insist that the bloc’s existing Digital Services Act (DSA) – implemented to limit illegal activity and disinformation online – will suffice in warding off external influence but, as the power and influence of Musk’s propaganda machine rises, many still have their doubts.