Bundestag Investigates Elon Musk’s Support for AfD as Potential Illegal Party Donation
The Bundestag administration has launched an investigation to determine whether Elon Musk’s engagement with the AfD party could be considered an illegal party donation. According to a Bundestag spokesperson, a fact-finding process is currently underway, as reported by the AFP news agency in Berlin.
Musk’s conversation with AfD leader candidate Alice Weidel on X is likely to be much broader in scope than regular user contributions, the organization argued. “In that sense, one can indeed speak of political advertising, as the platform X typically sells such reach for a very high price.”
Musk is currently making massive advertising efforts for the AfD on his platform X, with a live conversation with Weidel scheduled for Thursday evening.
Weidel and Musk will appear on X in an audio format today, with no in-person meeting or video chat planned. For those who are not proficient in English, Radio Kontrafunk is offering a German simultaneous translation, available on its website and YouTube channel.
In a similar case, the Berlin Administrative Court in 2020 ruled that advertising efforts for former AfD politician Jörg Meuthen, organized by the Swiss Goal AG in the 2016 Baden-Württemberg state election, were considered illegal party donations. This decision followed the Bundestag administration’s legal assessment, which resulted in a fine being imposed.