BERLIN — Elon Musk, a tech entrepreneur, made a stir when he backed Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper before important parliamentary elections in that Western European country. The opinion editor of the newspaper quit in protest.
Germans will go to the polls early on February 23 because Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition government fell apart last month over how to get the country’s economy growing again.
Musk wrote a guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag, a sister newspaper of Politico owned by the Axel Springer Group. It came out over the weekend in German and was his second time this month supporting the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
In his translated response, Musk said, “The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last glimmer of hope for this country.”
He went on to say that the far-right party “can lead the country into a future where economic growth, cultural integrity, and new technologies are not just hopes, but realities.”
The CEO of Tesla TSLA -3.25% also wrote that because he had invested in Germany, he had the right to say something about the situation there.
There are a lot of votes for the AfD, but its candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, has no chance of becoming chancellor because other parties won’t work with the far-right party.
The tech billionaire, who is a supporter of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, wrote an opinion piece that criticized the party’s public image.
“The idea that the AfD is made up of extreme right-wingers is obviously not true, since Alice Weidel, the leader of the party, has a partner from Sri Lanka who is the same gender!” Do you think that sounds like Hitler? Please!”
Musk’s comments have caused a discussion in German media about the limits of free speech. The opinion editor of the paper resigned, citing Musk’s social media platform, X, as the reason.
“I always liked being in charge of the opinion section at WELT and WAMS.” Elon Musk wrote a piece that came out today in Welt am Sonntag. Eva Marie Kogel wrote, “I turned in my resignation yesterday after it went to print.”
Politicians and other news outlets also said bad things about the newspaper because it gave Musk, a stranger, a place to say what he thought about the AfD.
Friedrich Merz, a candidate for chancellor from the Christian Democratic Union, said on Sunday that Musk’s words were “stupid and rude.” This was what he said to the German Funke Media Group newspapers.
ARD reports that Saskia Esken, co-leader of the Social Democratic Party, said, “Anyone who tries to influence our election from outside, who supports an anti-democratic, misanthropic party like the AfD, must expect our tough resistance,” whether the influence comes from Russia’s government or from Elon Musk and his billionaire friends on the Springer board using their wealth and media power to get their way.
Along with Musk’s opinion piece in the Welt am Sonntag, there was a critical piece by Jan Philipp Burgard, who will soon be editor-in-chief of the Welt group.
Burke wrote, “Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his treatment, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong.”
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) asked Ulf Poschardt, editor-in-chief of the Welt group, and Burgard, who will take over on January 1, to respond. They said in a joint statement that the discussion about Musk’s piece was “very insightful.” Freedom of speech is important for both democracy and media.
“This will continue to set the direction of the “world” in the years to come.” They wrote to dpa, “We will make “Die Welt” an even better place for these kinds of debates.”
