Musk wields X to boost extreme right in Europe

The EU is already investigating X. Following on the heels of a July 2024 ruling that X breached the DSA with its paid “blue checks,” former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, then the EU’s top digital enforcer, sent Musk a strongly worded letter in August about X’s obligations before a live-streamed interview he planned with Donald Trump.

The digital platform was also accused of not being transparent about how actors purchased online advertising, and not providing access to its data — both of which would violate the EU legislation.

X said it disagreed with the compliance assessment; Musk threatened litigation.

The company has been asked to respond to the EU charges before a final decision is made, which Brussels insiders say would most likely be in early 2025.

Valérie Peugeot, a researcher and professor at Sciences Po Paris and former commissioner at the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty, told Courthouse News: “The fact that he’s interacting with the extreme right in Germany, the fact that he’s been criticizing the English prime minister and other positions that he’s taken in the public space, is to get European society even more polarized. And that can serve him both on the economic side and on the political side.”

In Peugeot’s view, Musk can exploit a polarized society for economic gain through clicks. Violence and controversy bring more ad revenue. From an ideological standpoint, he’s trying to reshape the world to align with his views, she said.

“I think that in large, Elon Musk is taking interest in politics whether they’re in Europe or the U.S., and Europe is just a new playground for him,” Peugeot said. “So the kind of anti-democratic and extremely capitalistic society that he’s trying to promote — that’s his project, basically.”

“We need to promote discourse that shows that technology is not neutral, technology is deeply political and social,” she continued.

Europe as a whole generally doesn’t operate within Musk’s belief systems, though he has supported a number of right-leaning leaders.

In December, the leader of the right-wing populist Reform party in the U.K., Nigel Farage, said the party was in “open negotiations” with Musk over a donation, although he played down speculation that it could be as much as $100 million. Farage later distanced himself from Musk after the billionaire called for the release from prison of a far-right activist who goes by the name of Tommy Robinson.

Musk is libertarian, while Europe is riddled with complex regulatory frameworks; Musk is hyper-capitalistic and Europe is largely socialist. Now that he will officially be a part of the Trump administration, he arguably wields a higher level of power.

Alice Weidel keeps referencing the Trump presidency to Elon Musk as “your administration.”

— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) January 9, 2025

“I think his support for Donald Trump has now positioned him as one of the key advisers in the incoming administration, and he is likely looking to replicate that political success in other parts of the Western world,” Soula said. “In addition, I’d say that the fact that he’s supporting far-right groupings is kind of consistent with the broader orientation of his own ideology, and of the way he has been moderating, or not moderating, X, formerly known as Twitter, since he acquired it.”

Soula argues that Musk’s involvement in extreme-right groups could backfire in multiple ways.

Under the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Soula works for a program called the Alliance for Securing Democracy that researches foreign authoritarian interference in democracies, namely Russia and China.

AfD has ties to both.

“The parties that Elon Musk has chosen to support have been kind of the most problematic in Europe over the past year in particular, and are the ones that have been proven to be most susceptible to influence from authoritarian regimes in Moscow and Beijing,” Soula said. “Even if you put yourself as ‘America first,’ defending the U.S.’s national interests in a very aggressive manner, I find it very counterproductive to be supporting those forces if you’re an American citizen.”

Then, it’s not certain that these extremist parties will embrace Musk with open arms. The AfD and similar parties are generally nationalist and populist, and won’t necessarily be ecstatic about having the support of an American billionaire.  

“I think there is even a case to be made that Elon Musk’s very strong and overt support might backfire for these nationalist parties, because I’m not sure that voters for some of these far-right parties will be thrilled to have a U.S. voice defending or supporting their parties,” Soula said.

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