Elon Musk caused a political storm in Germany on Friday after saying only the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party can “save” the country.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk wrote on the social media platform X, which he acquired in 2022.
The AfD is in second place in German polls at around 19%, two months before early elections expected to be held on February 23.
However, Germany’s established parties have ruled out cooperating with the party, which is under investigation as a suspected right-wing extremist group by domestic intelligence services.
The AfD’s candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, responded to Musk on Friday: “Yes! You are perfectly right.”
She later produced a 30-second follow-up video addressed to Musk in which she praised the AfD and wished him and the American people a “Merry Christmas.”
Musk then shared the video with his 200 million followers on the platform.
At a press conference in Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters that freedom of opinion “also applies to multi-billionaires” and “means that you can say things that are incorrect and do not contain good political advice.”
Government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann earlier said it was “not the first time that Elon Musk has commented on German politics on X.”
“We take note of it, we don’t categorize it, we don’t judge it,” she added.
The general secretary of the Social Democrats, Matthias Miersch, warned that if Musk uses the X platform to boost the far-right AfD, it would be “an alarming signal,” adding that Germany does not need foreign influence or “Trumpism.”
He added, “Stay out, Elon.”
Meanwhile, the digital policy spokesperson for the conservative CDU/CSU opposition parliamentary group, Reinhard Brandl, called the concentration of power and influence of one individual “a serious danger to our democracy.”
Similarly, the top candidate for the Left party, Heidi Reichinnek, accused Musk of using his wealth to control a mass medium, enabling him to “influence the politics of various states.”
And Christian Lindner, the leader of pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), responded to Musk saying that he should not draw hasty conclusions from afar and noted that the far-right AfD is against freedom and the economy.
However, Lindner added that he was open to meeting with him and talking about the FDP.
Musk, the founder of electric carmaker Tesla and the private space company SpaceX, has emerged as one of the closest supporters of US President-elect Donald Trump.
He has also signalled his willingness to intervene in European politics, backing the populist Reform UK party in Britain.
The South African-born billionaire previously praised the AfD after European Parliament elections earlier this year.