In recent months, the billionaire has been campaigning in support of Europe’s hard-right parties including Germany’s AfD which will be contesting in the German federal elections this yearread more
In a bid to promote far-right parties in Europe, Tesla CEO Elon Musk decided to introduce a spinoff to US President-elect Donald Trump’s popular slogan ‘Make America Great Again’. While the European Union investigates, his controversial social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk raised the slogan “Make Europe Great Again.”
In recent months, the billionaire has been campaigning in support of Europe’s hard-right parties including Germany’s AfD which will be contesting in the German federal elections this year. In his latest post shared on Saturday, Musk wrote: “From MAGA to MEGA: Make Europe Great Again.”
From MAGA to MEGA:
Make Europe Great Again!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 18, 2025
MAGA has been one of the main chants among Trump supporters who are considered “far-right” in America. Interestingly, it was also the slogan used by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban while he was fighting for the presidency in the European Parliament in 2024. Several European politicians including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have accused Musk of trying to interfere in polls across Europe.
EU steps up its investigation
The remarks from the Tesla CEO came at a time when the EU announced that it is stepping up its investigation into X’s algorithms. On Thursday, the European Commission requested documents relating to X’s “recommender systems” that suggest to users what they might want to read next on the platform.
“Today we are taking further steps to shed light on the compliance of X’s recommender systems with the obligations under the DSA,” Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkunnen said, Euro News reported.
Responding to the ongoing investigation, Musk said that he is a champion of free speech and democracy and accused the European leaders and other critics of trying to limit them. In a separate post, Musk said “So many people in Europe lack hope for the future or think Europe is ‘bad’ in some way. Pervasive pessimism. This will lead to the end of Europe. Therefore, it must change.”
The investigation came after in August 2024, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a US-based human rights and civil liberties group, found that Musk’s “false or misleading claims about the US elections” were viewed nearly 1.2 billion times on X.
With inputs from agencies.