FRANKFURT, Germany: A post from Elon Musk on his platform X that only the far-right AfD party can 鈥渟ave Germany鈥� sparked accusations Friday that he was seeking to interfere in the country鈥檚 upcoming polls.
The tech billionaire posted the message over a video commentary that criticized the leader of Germany鈥檚 CDU party Friedrich Merz, on course to become the next chancellor, for his refusal to work with the AfD.
The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) has enjoyed a surge in the polls, and is currently second-placed, but mainstream parties have ruled out cooperating with it.
While the German government refused to be drawn on the comments by Musk, set to be 鈥渆fficiency czar鈥� under US President-elect Donald Trump, politicians from major parties reacted with outrage.
鈥淚t is threatening, irritating and unacceptable for a key figure in the future US government to interfere in the German election campaign,鈥� Dennis Radtke, an MEP for the center-right CDU, told the Handelsblatt daily.
Germans are set to go to the polls on February 23 after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz鈥檚 coalition last month in a row over the budget.
Musk was a 鈥渢hreat to democracy in the Western world,鈥� Radtke added, accusing the world鈥檚 richest man of turning X, previously called Twitter, into a 鈥渄isinformation slingshot.鈥�
Alex Schaefer, a lawmaker from Scholz鈥檚 center-left SPD party, said Musk鈥檚 post was 鈥渃ompletely unacceptable.鈥�
鈥淲e are very close to the Americans, but now bravery is required toward our friend. We object to interference in our election campaign,鈥� Schaefer told the Tagesspiegel daily.
The AfD however celebrated Musk鈥檚 praise in its own X message, which said 鈥渕illions of people have long recognized this 鈥� and the number is growing.鈥�
The German government was reluctant to be drawn into commenting on Musk鈥檚 post, with a spokeswoman telling a regular press conference in Berlin that 鈥渇reedom of expression also applies to X.鈥�
But the spokeswoman, Christiane Hoffmann, added the government was worried about 鈥渉ow X has developed in recent years, especially since Elon Musk took over.鈥�
Despite such concerns, the government had decided not to close their accounts on the platform as it remained 鈥渁n important medium for reaching and informing people,鈥� she said.
It is not the first time Musk has weighed in on German politics.
Last month he tweeted in German that 鈥淥laf is a fool鈥� after the collapse of Scholz鈥檚 government.