European Leaders Denounce Musk’s Influence – Legal Implications And Future Actions

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is getting wide pushback in European capitals as he tries to extend his recent political success to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Leaders in four European countries — France, Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom — denounced his influence in separate statements on Monday, warning that Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, should not involve himself in their countries’ politics.

Musk, the world’s wealthiest person and a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, has been on a social media rampage against various world leaders, posting relentlessly on his social media app, X, and trying to duplicate the influence he had on U.S. politics last year.

On numerous occasions, Musk has boosted far-right candidates in various European countries with his social media posts.

Musk’s message has proven divisive, and the resentment appeared to boil over Monday among leaders of some of Europe’s largest and most powerful countries.

French President Emmanuel Macron, without naming Musk, took a swipe at him in an address in Paris about foreign policy.

“Who could have imagined, 10 years ago, that the owner of one of the world’s largest social networks would intervene directly in elections, including in Germany?” Macron said, according to The Associated Press, alluding to Musk’s endorsement of a far-right German political party.

In Germany, the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized Musk by name and predicted that his social media posting would not work with the public.

“The normal people, the sensible people, the decent people are far in the majority in this country,” a government spokesman said, according to the national broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

“We act as if Mr. Musk’s statements … could influence a country of 84 million people with untruths or half-truths or expressions of opinion. This is simply not the case,” he said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was asked about Musk at a news conference about child sexual abuse cases. Musk has accused Starmer of not doing enough to stop the abuses when he was a prosecutor — an accusation that Starmer, without naming Musk, dismissed as a self-promoting lie.

“Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims. They’re interested in themselves,” he said, according to Sky News. Starmer said those people get a “vicarious thrill from street violence.”

And although Norway has been a pivotal proving ground for Tesla for a decade, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre decried Musk’s political influence in an interview Monday.

“I find it worrying that a man with enormous access to social media and huge economic resources involves himself so directly in the internal affairs of other countries,” he told public broadcaster NRK, according to Reuters.

“This is not the way things should be between democracies and allies,” he said.

Legal Implications And Future Actions

The European Commission has indicated that Musk’s activities could trigger legal scrutiny under the EU’s Digital Services Act if they are deemed to unfairly influence electoral processes. 

The Commission stated it would monitor an upcoming livestream event featuring Musk and AfD co-leader Alice Weidel to assess potential risks to civic discourse and electoral integrity. This proactive stance underscores the seriousness with which European officials are approaching the issue.