in Germany, there’s growing concern that Elon Musk is interfering in the campaign for next month’s national elections. The billionaire has publicly endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) and has called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to stand down. On his social media platform X, Musk hosted a conversation with one of the AfD’s leaders, Alice Weidel. She rejects comparisons of her party to the Nazis.
Authorities in Germany are investigating whether Thursday’s talk on X constitutes an illegal party donation. Here’s what a lobby watchdog had to say about the talk between Musk and Weidel: "The crucial point here is not that the talk itself is a donation. If that were the case, then a lot of media interviews would count as a donation. But that boosted reach on the platform X would constitute as a party donation, because usually X would sell this kind of boost, but with Elon Musk as the owner of the platform, his activities and this is proven or has been proven quite often, are artificially boosted. So the reach is much higher than for a user with a similar follower count that isn’t the owner of X. And since this service of this boost in reach is supplied to the party Afd for free, this would constitute a party donation. And in Germany, party donations from entities from outside of the EU are illegal. And both Elon Musk and the Platform X are situated in the US. So this would be an illegal party donation."
If a court rules that this talk was an illegal party donation, what would that mean for Musk and the AfD?
#Germanelections #AliceWeidel #ElonMusk
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