Across Europe, teaming up with Weidel is seen as an inflammatory step as members of her populist and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party have for years been accused of whitewashing and trivializing Nazi crimes. The AfD is currently polling second.
French President Emmanuel Macron was quick to accuse Musk of having gone too far in his vocal support for the AfD. “Ten years ago, who could have imagined it if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany,” he said in a speech at the Elysée Palace.
The pressure is now on the European Commission to respond, given that it is in charge of enforcing Europe’s Digital Services Act, which polices social media platforms including X, and threatens eye-watering fines of up to 6 percent of global turnover, or even temporary blocks, in case of a breach.
Unfair advantage
The key problem that Musk would face legally under the DSA concerns not so much content as the extent to which exposure on a platform as large as X would give the AfD an unfair public advantage over its rivals before a vote.
Former EU digital enforcer Thierry Breton said Saturday that Weidel will be offered a “significant and valuable advantage” over her competitors and reminded Musk to adhere to his EU social media law obligations.
German Greens lawmaker Alexandra Geese defined the problem as follows: “Elon Musk chatting with AfD leader Alice Weidel on X is covered by freedom of expression. His algorithmic manipulation, [which] is intentionally flooding German X timelines with far-right propaganda and drowning out progressive content, is not.”
