Elon Musk's plan to host a conversation with the leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on his social media platform
The tech billionaire is scheduled to speak on Thursday with Alice Weidel, head of the Alternative for Germany party – Germany's far-right party. He is currently in second place ahead of the general election scheduled for February 23 on a platform that includes “defending freedom of expression,” tightening asylum laws, ending financial support for asylum seekers, and scrapping planned restrictions on combustion engine cars among other points.
Despite the party being labeled a “suspected extremist organisation” by Germany's domestic intelligence services – something he tried to fight in court – Musk said in December that “only the AfD can save Germany”, and published an opinion piece in support of Party. In a German newspaper.
“Don't feed the troll,” outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the German weekly Bulletin. strict When asked about Musk's attacks on himself and other politicians from the country, while German opposition leader Friedrich Merz described Musk's intervention as “intrusive and pretentious” when speaking to Funke Media Group.
The anger has gone beyond measure, with French President Emmanuel Macron also criticizing Musk and former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, saying the interview would give Weidel a “huge and valuable advantage.”
However, the live broadcast would not violate any laws if the content of the interview was legal, Matthew Holman, a technology, privacy and AI partner at law firm Krebs, told CNBC in email comments, noting that it was “an important part of expressing freedom.” “. Discourse in a healthy democratic system.”
“However, if this was Musk's only interview with German parties at the time, by failing to give equal weight to all mainstream viewpoints or promoting one party in a polarizing manner, lawmakers would likely see X and Musk as having negatively influenced On civil discourse, Holman added: “And the electoral process in Germany by only conducting interviews with the AfD or failing to have an effective third-party mediator in real time.”
CNBC has reached out to X for comment.
The EU Digital Services Act (DSA) – a wide-ranging piece of legislation aimed at regulating content on large online platforms, including X – stipulates that platforms are responsible for assessing and mitigating risks that threaten, among other things, civil discourse and electoral politics. procedures.
This includes “a commitment to analyze and mitigate the risks arising from any preferential treatment or visibility given to content on a particular platform, including Mr. Musk’s content on his own platform,” European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said in emailed comments.
He added that the Commission will hold a roundtable on January 24 to discuss risks ahead of the German elections and will be joined by the German Digital Services Coordination and very large online platforms, including X.
While there are currently only a few reports of Algorithm It is a German organization for defending human rights. Fundamental and human rights, he told CNBC via email.
“If he uses this treatment to support the AfD through political statements and live broadcasts showcasing their candidate, this could easily violate the Democratic Services Act,” she said.
Rove also noted that the European Commission is already seeking information from X Discounts on their content moderation resourcesit is able to request temporary measures to prevent harm to users. “This would likely include disabling X's recommendation algorithm until the federal election,” she suggested.
However, it is unclear whether demands for such measures will succeed, and how they might be implemented in practice.
Meanwhile, German civil society initiative LobbyControl says the interview could be considered an illegal donation to the party. The group notes that Musk has clearly stated that his goal is to strengthen the AfD and is using his platform's resources to achieve this, and the interview is likely to be more widely viewed than this content by regular users of X.
“So we can actually talk about political ads in this case, because Platform X usually sells this kind of access for a lot of money,” the group said in a statement. statementAccording to a translation by CNBC. Promoting elections through third parties is legally viewed as a donation, and donations from countries outside the European Union are prohibited, LobbyControl noted.
This is not the first time that Musk has supported right-wing parties and figures in Europe. Until recentlySupport for Nigel Farage, leader of the UK's right-wing Reform Party A sermon against the current British governmentled by Labour's Keir Starmer, asking whether America should “liberate the people of Britain”.
