Politico: Musk will face consequences for interfering in German election, says front-runner Merz

[Dennis Donovan]

Politico - Musk will face consequences for interfering in German election, says front-runner Merz

The next German government’s response could be political, legal, or possibly target Musk’s gigafactory near Berlin, center-right leader says in interview.



February 14, 2025 12:53 pm CET
By Nette Nöstlinger

BERLIN — Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said U.S. tech billionaire Elon Musk should be prepared to face consequences for meddling in the German election campaign if he takes office.

“What happened in this election campaign cannot go unchallenged,” Merz, the front-runner from the center-right conservative alliance, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. “It can be a political response. It can be a legal response. I want to analyze this calmly after this election campaign.” The country goes to the polls Feb. 23.

Tesla chief Musk caused an outcry in Germany by throwing his weight behind the far-right Alternative for Germany in the run-up to next weekend’s vote.

He first endorsed the AfD in a post on X, the social media platform he owns, last December. It was followed by a livestreamed chat with party leader Alice Weidel and a virtual appearance at a party conference.

Musk also used X to berate mainstream German politicians, calling center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz a “fool,” while touting the AfD as the only force that can “save” the country.

/snip

[Irish_Dem]

1. The US will not curtail Musk who is a criminal, maybe the world can try.

[Renew Deal]

2. I'm all for it but what's written in this article doesn't sound criminal

Is the AfD outlawed? If not, why is tweeting and interviewing people illegal? I guess that’s the the reason for the possible political response?

[gab13by13]

3. Speech laws are different from country to country,

The US is really lax, Canada has laws against hate speech, I don't know how Germany treats it?

If Musk spread lies about candidates which he intended to influence the election, why shouldn't that be treated as criminal behavior?

Germany obviously doesn't have a Merrick Garland-type AG.

Robert Mueller indicted a lot of Russians for interfering in the 2016 election.

[Renew Deal]

5. It should be treated that way if it's actually illegal

I think he’s been playing with fire in some of these countries and I hope they fully enforce their laws

[Lovie777]

4. I think Germany as well as other countries have suspicions about..............

musk, hackers and techs fudging numbers through AI or similar to it in the USA elections.

[2naSalit]

6. I think they are...

Beyond suspicious. Romania threw out an entire election after discovering his interference and are rerunning it with new restrictions. Many countries in the EU have discovered him meddling and are getting ready to nail him.

I suspect that once he is exposed over there it will show how it was done here, as an example, and he'll be in big trouble globally. And we will be forced to address what happened here immediately.

[tanyev]

8. Ooh, I like how you think.

[MLWR]

10. The AfD is NOT illegal in Germany

[Wiz Imp]

11. The article says action against Trump could be legal action

or it could be legal, or possibly target Musk’s gigafactory.

Germany & the EU are already exploring the possibility of charging him with multiple crimes.

Social media platforms like X have been under scrutiny by the European Commission, the main executive body of the European Union (EU), for allegedly failing to help prevent election interference. X was already accused by the commission in July of allegedly breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into effect in 2022 to make very large platforms and search engines give researchers access to data to research systemic risks.

Newsweek reported last month that the administration of Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, was investigating whether Musk's support for the AfD on the platform where he has over 200 million followers could constitute an illegal party donation as campaigning by third parties is considered a party donation under German law.

In late December 2024, Musk published an opinion piece in the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag defending the AfD. Eva Marie Kogel, the paper's opinion editor, resigned in protest. He also participated in a livestream on X with AfD leader Alice Weidel early last month where he encouraged voters to support the far-right party in Germany's February elections.

On Friday, Politico, which said it saw the Berlin Regional Court's decision, reported that the court issued its ruling that X must provide researchers with the data on Thursday after the Berlin-based advocacy groups Democracy Reporting International (DRI) and the Society for Civil Rights (GFF) filed a lawsuit earlier this week. The lawsuit alleged that X prevented the tracking of potential election interference by not giving the advocacy groups access to engagement data such as likes, shares and visibility metrics, according to Politico. Politico also reported that the court ordered X to pay legal costs and a nearly $6,200 procedural fine.

[orangecrush]

7. Of course there will be zero consequences

And no investigation here now with a gutted DOJ.

[lark]

9. Whoo boy, Germany will become public enemy #1 with tcf if they follow through with action against Musk.

I hope they do and the rest of Europe follows suit!! Musk deserves every hit possible for fucking up the world for his own profit.