In a broadcast with the party’s leader, Elon Musk has urged German voters to support the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the upcoming national election.
The United States technology billionaire, who is set to have a role in the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, live-streamed his conversation with Alice Weidel, the AfD’s candidate for chancellor, via his social media platform X on Thursday.
Weidel was named as “the leading candidate to run Germany” by Musk in the chat, which generated more than 190,000 X accounts and exhorted viewers to vote for the party “as things are going to get very, very bad in Germany.”
“Only AfD can save Germany. End of story”, he said.
Musk, who is expected to have an advisory role in Trump’s administration, has been increasingly vocal in his support for far-right parties in Europe, demonstrating particular interest in economic powerhouse Germany, where he opened his automotive company Tesla’s first European plant in 2022.
During the chat, Musk doubled down on his endorsement of the AfD, an anti-immigration, anti-Islamic party, having previously shared his thoughts in X posts and an opinion piece published by the newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
Musk and Weidel agreed that Germany was hamstrung by a “crazy” energy policy, excessive bureaucracy and uncontrolled immigration, comparing the media’s treatment of the AfD to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s treatment of pro-Jewish voices in the 1930s.
“People love to censor things they don’t agree with”, , said Musk, who insisted that Weidel was proposing “nothing outrageous”.
After the deadly car attack at a German Christmas market last month, Musk, who describes himself as a libertarian, called German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier a “tyrant” for his criticism of the AfD.
Both men belong to the centre-left Social Democrats party.
“Lies and misinformation”
Leaders across Europe have expressed alarm over Musk’s political interventions. Without naming him directly, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has accused Musk of undermining democracy, while France’s foreign minister urged the EU to bolster its laws to protect against outside interference.
But Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who heads the far-right anti-immigration Brothers of Italy party, defended Musk on Thursday.
“I do not see this danger to democracy. Elon , Musk , is a very well-known and wealthy person who expresses his ideas”, she said.
Meloni’s government is currently weighing up a possible communications security contract relying on Starlink, part of , Musk’s SpaceX business.
The Italian leader claims that there are no current alternatives to Starlink that are Italian or EU-backed and that Italy is in a dilemma over how to safeguard its sensitive communications.
Opposition parties have sharply criticized the project, arguing that a , Musk , company should be in charge of handling these communications.
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