Elon Musk Is Roiling European Politics

Trump ally has flooded X with posts criticizing European politicians, causing a diplomatic conundrum for the continent's leaders

- Max Colchester & Bertrand Benoit

Elon Musk is throwing grenades into Europe's political mainstream over issues ranging from immigration to free speech, creating a dilemma for governments as they try to respond to the tech billionaire and key adviser to the incoming Trump administration.

In recent days and weeks, Musk has weighed in with a series of incendiary social-media posts on European politics, including supporting a far-right party ahead of an election in Germany, accusing the British prime minister of being complicit in rape, denouncing judges in Italy and slamming the European Commission.

The stream of posts from the world's richest man has morphed into a diplomatic headache and caught several mainstream European political parties on the back foot. Just weeks ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration, many European leaders have been wary of publicly calling out Musk, worried it would damage relations with Trump and simply prod the tech entrepreneur to double down on his attacks.

But the repeated posts to his 211 million followers on X, the social-media platform he owns, are now setting the news agenda in several of those countries, making it impossible to ignore. Europe's unpopular leaders worry that Musk could use X to mobilize disenchanted voters at a time when weak economic growth has eroded trust in mainstream politics and stoked political instability.

"Ten years ago if someone had told us the owner of one of the world's biggest social-media companies would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany, who would have imagined that?" French President Emmanuel Macron told ambassadors on Monday.

Musk's bare-knuckle approach to foreign affairs highlights the challenge that U.S. allies face in navigating the next Trump presidency. The last time Trump was in the White House, foreign governments had to deal with his unpredictable late-night social media statements. Now they also have to digest Musk's.