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German politicians have criticized media company Axel Springer for commenting on Elon Musk’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), amid growing anger over the tech billionaire’s growing advocacy of right-wing political parties in Europe.
Matthias Miersch, secretary general of Germany’s Social Democrats, said Axel Springer’s proposal was “shameful and dangerous”. Musk Platform by publishing the article in one of the newspapers Welt am Sonntag.
“It is unacceptable that foreign billionaires are trying to influence our political environment and support parties that undermine our democratic values,” he told the Handelblatt newspaper.
Musk’s pro-AfD piece comes less than two months before snap elections in Germany, triggered by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition. They have choices Afd Second only to the center-right Christian Democrats, Scholz’s SPD follows in third.
Senior Green Party MP Andreas Odresch, who is leading the party’s election campaign, took to X to criticize the article.
“Herr Musk, when the Chinese state or Moscow’s troll factories destroy our democratic discourse, it hurts our democracy,” he said. “That’s why right-wing extremists in the AfD love it so much.”
Welt opinion editor Eva Marie Kogel announced her resignation over the weekend, prompting outrage over the decision to publish Musk’s piece in the paper’s newsroom.
“Journalism lives by freedom and credibility, Die Welt lives by its name,” said Mika Büster, head of the German journalists’ association DJV. “All this will be thrown into the dustbin with a loud noise.
Musk, the closest adviser to the US President-elect Donald Trump and A Friend Matthias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer, used the op-ed to praise the AfD, large parts of which have been classified as extremist by German intelligence and placed under surveillance. The party also encouraged the mass deportation of foreigners.
Muck said Germany was in economic and cultural decline and described the AfD as the “last glimmer of hope” for the country, praising its policy of market controls, tax cuts and cutting red tape, as well as its opposition to immigration. .
In addition, the group’s leader, Alice Weidel, has denied the idea that the AfD is “right-wing”, saying he had a same-sex relationship with a woman from Sri Lanka. “Do you think this is like Hitler? Abaksh!” he wrote.
Mook is heavily invested in Germany, where Tesla built its first European giant factory. But plans to expand the plant in Brandenburg have faced strong local opposition this year, including from AfD politicians in the state.
The publication of the article comes a week after Musk re-released a video of a German activist claiming that “only the AfD can save Germany.” Weidel said, “Yes! You are absolutely right!”
AfD is the last European hard-right organization to receive Musk’s support.
Nigel Farage recently told the BBC that Musk might donate to Reform UK, after the pair met at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, saying his party was “in further negotiations” with the technologist.
The rift between Farage and Conservative Party leader Kimi Badenoch was sparked by a raid on Aden’s Twitter page after she claimed Reform UK had registered her membership number.
Earlier this year, Musk praised Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, describing her as “more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside” and “genuine, honest and caring.” She replied by thanking his “dear genius”.
Insiders at Axel Springer, which owns Politico, dismissed criticism that they were giving a platform to Musk and the alt-right by publishing the article.
“He owns Twitter and can reach 200mn people with one tweet,” said one. Welt who will give him a platform? It’s a platform. It’s best to put this side by side with what we can expect and our own opinion.
