Musk political comments cause fresh concern in Europe
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store has become the latest politician to express concern about billionaire businessman Elon Musk commenting on the internal affairs of countries in Europe.
South African-born Musk, who has been a United States citizen since 2002, is a close ally of US president-elect Donald Trump and is the owner of companies including social media platform X, on which he has 210 million followers.
With increasing frequency, he has been posting his opinions on European politics, including endorsing the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, and running a poll on Monday entitled "America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government. Yes/No".
Store told Norwegian national public broadcaster NRK: "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. This is not how it should be between democracies and allies."
When asked about how he would respond to any hypothetical interference by Musk in Norwegian domestic affairs, Store replied: "If we were to see it in Norway, I hope and assume that a united Norwegian political environment would warn and distance itself from it."
Following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition government at the end of last year, Germany faces federal elections in February, ahead of which Musk has announced plans for an online discussion with AfD leader Alice Weidel, having previously used insulting terms when talking about Scholz.
For his part, Scholz told weekly publication Stern he had no interest in engaging with Musk.
"I don't believe in courting Mr Musk's favor. I'm happy to leave that to others," he said. "The rule is: don't feed the troll."
The United Kingdom has also been a frequent target for Musk's political opinions.
When riots broke out last summer following an incident in which three young girls were killed, and after which misinformation about the attacker's identity was spread on social media, Musk posted that "civil war is inevitable".
He has also called on King Charles III, who is technically the head of state but politically neutral, to dissolve parliament over sexual offences committed by organized gangs around the country more than a decade ago, when current Prime Minister Keir Starmer was director of public prosecutions.
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, calls herself a "huge fan" of Musk, saying he has been "fantastic for free speech".
Musk has suggested he may make a sizeable donation to the right-wing Reform Party, which has five members in the 650-seat UK parliament and is led by Nigel Farage, another close associate of Trump.
On Friday, in a speech to party members Farage called Musk "a hero", but 48 hours later Musk wrote on X that Farage "doesn't have what it takes" and that the party needed a new leader.