France’s Foreign Minister urges tougher EU action on Musk, says laws must be enforced
European leaders express concern over Elon Musk's influence on domestic politics and social media.
The European Commission must use its existing legislation in a much tougher manner, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, referring to Elon Musk.
“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, to France.”
Although some of Europe’s leaders, notably Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, have found favour with Musk, others are finding it hard to ignore him, as he ventures into their domestic politics ahead of a new role of adviser to the incoming US President Donald Trump.
This week, four European governments have objected to Musk’s posts.
France’s Emmanuel Macron was among the first to expressed incredulity on Monday.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store weighed in, too, saying he found it “worrying that a man with considerable access to social networks and significant economic resources is so directly involved in the internal affairs of other countries”.
Spain’s government spokeswoman, Pilar Alegría, said digital platforms such as X should act with “absolute neutrality and above all without any kind of interference”.
Musk has highlighted crime statistics in Norway and Spain, and blamed a deadly Christmas market attack in Germany on “mass unchecked immigration”.
In the past few days, Musk has written numerous posts attacking the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his administration over grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation.
Few European leaders have felt the lash of Elon Musk’s social media outbursts more than Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The tech-billionaire owner of X has called him an “incompetent fool” and urged him to resign. On Thursday Musk will use his platform to host Alice Weidel, the head of Germany’s far-right, anti-immigrant AfD for a lengthy chat.
For many German politicians it smacks of political interference, with the AfD running second in the polls ahead of federal elections on 23 February.
“You have to stay cool,” says Scholz. “Don’t feed the troll.”
