Elon Musk’s Upcoming Live Interview With Germany’s AfD Leader Triggers EU Calls for Intervention

Elon Musk, co-chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 5, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Elon Musk’s plan to host Alice Weidel—the leader of Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party—in a live interview on his social media platform, X, on Jan. 9 has sparked calls from European Union leaders for the European Commission to intervene.

The interview will take place ahead of Germany’s national election on Feb. 23.

EU leaders have called for Brussels to intervene directly, saying it needs to enforce the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The DSA is an EU-wide 2022 regulation that requires social media platforms to remove and take other specified steps to deal with what is deemed “disinformation.”

In December 2024, Musk publicly endorsed the AfD, and on Dec. 28, the German paper Welt am Sonntag published a guest editorial by him headlined “Only the AfD Can Save Germany.”

In it, Musk criticized Germany’s energy policies as “geopolitically naive,” including the decision to phase out nuclear power while heavily relying on coal, imported gas, and intermittent renewable energy sources without adequate grid-scale batteries.

“Germany’s economy, once the powerhouse of Europe, is now mired in bureaucracy and stifling regulations,” Musk wrote.

He also claimed that Berlin’s mass migration policies had caused significant cultural and social tensions.

When pressed on the subject on Jan 8, the European Commission said that it was not waiting until Jan. 9 to take action.

A spokesman said the commission had opened formal proceedings in December 2024 to assess whether X may have breached the DSA.

“On this possible livestream, this may well become part of the ongoing inquiry into X. But we have to see first of all whether it takes place on Thursday and under what conditions,” he said.

France’s digital minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, on Jan. 8 urged the EU to get tough on Musk’s involvement in European politics.

“Either the European Commission applies with the greatest firmness the laws that exist to protect our unique space, or it does not, and in that case, it should think about giving the capacity to do so back to the member states of the European Union,” Barrot said.

Thierry Breton, the former head of the EU Commission’s digital agenda, directly addressed Alice Weidel on X on Jan, 4, cautioning that her live chat, shared with Musk’s 210 million followers, would give her “a significant and valuable advantage” over competitors.

Breton had previously warned Musk over his Trump interview in August 2024 and said there was a “risk of amplification of potentially harmful content in connection with events with major audiences around the world.”

On Jan. 6, Ferda Ataman, Germany’s independent federal commissioner for anti-discrimination, told the federal government to abandon X, claiming its algorithms amplified “right-wing extremist remarks.”

She told public broadcaster ARD that the platform had become “an instrument of political influence by the richest man in the world,” referring to Musk.

Policing Speech

In a 2024 report, Norman Lewis, visiting research fellow at the think tank MCC Brussels, former PwC director, and the director of technology research at Orange UK, said that under the guise of “upholding civilised norms of behaviour,” the EU is institutionalizing laws against hate speech and disinformation that represent a “fundamental attack on free speech and democracy in Europe.”

“Essentially, it’s just a way of saying: ‘Don’t do the interview, because whatever you say, we’re going to use against you,” Lewis told The Epoch Times.

He said that the EU is using the Digital Services Act to police speech.

“Do you think Musk, in his conversation with the AfD leader, will be calling for violence in the streets?” Lewis asked.

“I’m not sure what they will talk about but I assume it will be a legitimate discussion about German politics, the future of Germany, and the EU.

“Why should that be policed? Why outlaw it? Isn’t this part of a democratic debate?

“The commission fear a discussion that goes against their narrative, that challenges the status quo.”

He said that the commission “feels they have the right to do this, and of course, the DSA does give them that right because that’s precisely what the act is about: regulating what can and cannot be said online.”

Lewis said that the EU’s stance reflects a belief that ordinary citizens are “easily manipulated” and cannot distinguish truth from misinformation.

“In reality, people know exactly what they believe in—it’s not misinformation that makes people vote for populists. It’s their disgruntlement with the existing political parties,” he said.

Latest Polls

According to a poll by INSA posted on Jan. 6, the Christian Democrats are leading with 35 percent of the vote, followed by AfD with 21.5 percent. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party SPD is polling at 15.5 percent.

Despite the AfD’s growing popularity, other major parties have ruled out forming a coalition with it.

The AfD’s platform includes strict border controls, opposition to climate action agendas, and criticism of EU integration, alongside calls for preserving traditional German culture and rejecting the notion that Islam is part of Germany.

The AfD has been labeled as a right-wing extremist by domestic intelligence agencies in some German states.

Domestic security services have treated the main AfD as a potentially extremist party since 2021, granting security services the right to keep it under surveillance.

However, the party denies that it is extremist.

European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told The Epoch Times by email: “Free and fair elections are at the core of our democracies.

“Under the Digital Services Act, very large online platforms must assess and mitigate a number of different systemic risks posed by their services, including risks to minors, risks to fundamental rights such as free speech, and risks for electoral processes and civic discourse.”

He said that this included the “obligation to analyse and mitigate risks deriving from any preferential treatment or visibility given to content on a given platform, including Mr. Musk’s content on his own platform.”

Reuters contributed to this report.