SPD Chief Lars Klingbeil has expressed alarm over Elon Musk’s statements on the German election campaign.
“Elon Musk is trying nothing but Vladimir Putin” Klingbeil told the Funke Media Group newspapers (Monday editions). “Both of them want to influence our elections and support the democracy-haters of the AfD. They want to weaken Germany and plunge it into chaos.” The democracy in Germany is “massively threatened from outside.” Democrats must stand together across parties, Klingbeil demanded. “That’s why I can’t quite understand why Christian Lindner is chasing after Elon Musk and flattering him.”
The SPD chief called for limiting Musk’s media power. “We must become much more proactive and effectively limit the power of large internet platforms like Musk’s short messaging service X” he said. “Here, a tech billionaire is trying to use his influence to shape the course of global politics.” It is mainly the EU Commission that must take action against this.
It’s about a stricter regulation of the large platforms, so that quality standards are met, Klingbeil said. “We need legal instruments against fake news, also to break the power of individual people. We must get our act together in Europe if we want to avert a great danger for democracy.