Norway PM says Musk’s involvement in politics outside US is “worrying”
OSLO – Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Monday that it is worrying that Elon Musk directly involves himself in domestic political issues in countries outside of the United States.
“I find it worrying that a man with enormous access to social media and huge economic resources involves himself so directly in the internal affairs of other countries,” Stoere told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
“This is not the way things should be between democracies and allies,” he added.
If Musk were to involve himself in Norwegian politics, the country’s politicians should collectively distance themselves from such efforts, Stoere said.
On Sunday, Elon Musk intensified his involvement in British politics, calling Prime Minister Keir Starmer a “national embarrassment” who “must go.”
Musk, who has previously weighed in on UK political affairs, has been a vocal critic of Starmer, especially since the anti-immigration riots last summer.
Moreover, the U.S. billionaire called on Nigel Farage to quit as leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform UK party in an abrupt withdrawal of support for the Brexit campaigner who is trying to shake up the British political establishment again.
“The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes,” Musk said on his social media platform X on Sunday, a few hours after Farage described him as a friend who made Reform look “cool”.
Last month, Musk endorsed the Alternative for Germany party, labelled as right-wing-extremist by German security services, ahead of national elections in February.
The German government accused Musk, who owns the social media platform X and is CEO of Tesla TSLA.O and SpaceX, of trying to influence the upcoming election with a guest opinion piece for the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said in his New Year’s address that U.S. billionaire Elon Musk’s support for Germany’s AfD is a “logical and systematic” play for a weak Europe that will not be able to regulate as strongly.
“A weak Europe is in the interest of those for whom regulation is an inappropriate limitation of their power,” added Habeck.
Musk, the world’s richest man, spent more than $250 million to help Trump get elected and has been tasked by Trump to prune the federal budget as a special adviser.
