Elon’s European Invasion Is Pissing Off World Leaders

In the U.S., rightwing billionaire Elon Musk recently helped elect a conservative political leader (Donald Trump) by using his social media platform X to flood the internet with rightwing propaganda that made America’s liberals look like unhinged degenerates. Now, he appears to be attempting to do the same thing in Europe. However, in recent days, a number of European officials have criticized the billionaire and his flailing attempts to intervene in their nations’ politics.

On Monday, Keir Starmer, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, held a press conference in which he defended himself from ongoing attacks made by Musk, who has spent the last few weeks fanning the flames of a scandal that he claims is tied to Starmer. The scandal in question involves the phenomenon of “grooming gangs” in north England, which are said to be composed largely of perpetrators of South Asian or British Pakistani heritage. Starmer ran the Crown Prosecution Service, Britain’s chief justice department, at the time when the scandal broke, over a decade ago. Though there’s little evidence for his assertions, Musk has accused Starmer of misconduct in handling the case, and has said that he should “face charges for his complicity in the worst mass crime in the history of Britain.” The intent appears to be to use the scandal to tar the reputation of Starmer’s government and replace it with one that is more amenable to Musk’s interests.

During the press conference, Starmer hit back at the American billionaire, saying: “Child sexual exploitation is utterly sickening. For many years, too many victims have been completely let down. Those who are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they’re interested in themselves.” Starmer did not name Musk directly during his address, though his connection to the affair was obvious.

Musk recently claimed that King Charles should dissolve Britain’s parliament to restore the “security” of the country. On Monday, he doubled down, posting a poll on X in which he asked users whether America should “liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.” Around the same time, accused sex criminal and men’s rights activist Andrew Tate helpfully announced his political ambitions to replace Starmer as PM.

Musk’s feud with Starmer has inspired other European leaders to criticize him. During a speech he gave to French ambassadors on Monday, French leader Emmanuel Macron seemed to characterize Musk as a toxic influence on European politics: “Who would have thought, if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support the new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections?” Macron said. On X, Musk subsequently railed against Macron, reposting the French leader’s comments with his own rebuttal.

Musk was also criticized by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who said Monday that it was “worrying” that the billionaire and close Trump ally was so overtly attempting to hijack European politics. “I find it worrying that a man with enormous access to social media and large financial resources is so directly involved in the internal affairs of other countries,” Støre told public broadcaster NRK. “This is not how it should be between democracies and allies.”

Meanwhile, Musk stirred up more drama when he broke with MP Nigel Farage on Monday. A longtime ally to the American political right, Musk nevertheless called for Farage to step down. “The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes,” Musk tweeted. The tweet came only days after Musk endorsed Tommy Robinson, a currently imprisoned far-right activist who, like Farage, has disparaged Muslims and immigrants.

Not long after Musk’s attack, Farage posted a video on X in which he decried Starmer’s government and drew attention to the rape gangs scandal. “Keir Starmer is sweeping the failures of the establishment under the carpet,” Farage said, in the video. “Nothing less than a full national inquiry into the rape gangs will do.” Musk then reposted Farage’s video, writing merely: “Yes.”

Musk also drew criticism from the European Union over his plans to interview far-right German politician Alice Weidel, the leader of the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD. Indeed, between suggesting America should depose the leader of one of its most longstanding allies and advocating for convicted criminals to run for office, Musk has also been propping up the far-right party in Germany. Musk previously stated that only the AfD can “save Germany”—a controversial comment, given the fact that AfD has been linked to neo-Nazis. The EU announced it plans to monitor Musk’s interview with Weidel to ensure that it doesn’t run afoul of its content moderation rules.

Despite his current ascendancy, it is unclear how long Musk’s political career will last. Musk has hitched his wagon to Trump’s star, so his political power seems to rely largely on the health of their relationship. On a recent podcast episode, New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman told tech reporter Kara Swisher “Trump does complain a bit to people about how Musk is around a lot.”