From a futurist, and problem-solver to a political cheerleader, Elon Musk – the world’s richest man – has come a long way after his takeover of Twitter (now called X). He has used the platform to promote conspiracy theories, attacking leaders of America’s allies, and taking sides in European politics.
After successfully mobilising support for Donald Trump in the US election, Musk has now set sight on upending the political landscapes in European countries. He says only the far-right, alleged Nazi-sympathiser Alternative f¼r Deutschland (AfD) “can save Germany”. In Britain, he has called for the removal of UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer and roiled Brazil over an investigation into X over the spread of misinformation.
An analysis of Musk’s X posts by India Today’s Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) team reveals his focus areas in Germany, Britain, and Brazil. Musk bought Twitter in 2023. From January next year, his social media posture changed dramatically. Keeping this in mind, the posts analysed were posted between January 1, 2023 and January 6, 2025 — a little over two years.
GERMANY
“Germany” featured 27 times in Musk’s posts on X since January 1, 2023. Between this date and the creation of his X account in 2009, the country appeared in just nine of his posts on the platform.
Similarly, “AfD” was mentioned by him in 10 posts. He never used this term before the cut-off date of our analysis. Musk’s support for AfD seems to have had an impact in Germany ahead of next month’s national elections. After he posted, “Only AfD can save Germany,” on December 20 last year, the phrase gained massive popularity on X. In just one week ending January 6, it appeared in nearly 22,000 posts, according to social listening tool TalkWalker.
Musk is scheduled to host a live session with AfD leader Alice Weidel on X on January 9. A media investigation last year revealed Weidel’s grandfather was a prominent Nazi judge appointed directly by Adolf Hitler.
Germany has called Musk’s statement as “election interference”. French President Emmanuel Macron has also levelled similar charges.
BRITAIN
In Britain, Musk’s focus has been on alleged grooming gangs linked to people of Pakistani origin. He accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of not doing enough to prosecute perpetrators as the director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013. Musk has even accused him of being “deeply complicit in the mass rapes in exchange for votes”.
Starmer dismissed the charges as “misinformation”. He said: “Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and wide as possible, they’re not interested in victims. They’re interested in themselves.”
“Britain” appeared in Musk’s X posts 37 times since January 1, 2023. Musk never talked about rape on the platform before. However, he used the terms “rape” and “gang” 17 and 11 times respectively.
BRAZIL
Musk’s fight in Brazil has been centred around what can be said on X as the South American nation experimented with a novel idea of fighting online misinformation. Musk was also accused in a case of misinformation. That triggered a major showdown with the Brazilian government, culminating in the banning of X in September 2024.
The analysis of the billionaire’s posts shows how he waged an all-out war online war against Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who was given sweeping powers to order social networks to take down content he believed threatened democracy. The powers were given in the wake of a flood of online disinformation around its 2022 presidential election.
“Brazil” figured in Musk’s X posts 64 times between January 1, 2023 and January 6, 2025. Before that period, it appeared in just six of his posts. The word “Alexandre” for Judge Alexandre de Moraes figured in 34 of his posts. He even launched a dedicated X account named “@AlexandreFiles” to “reveal the unlawful directives issued to X by Alexandre de Moraes”.
Similarly, he has interacted with and frequently praised Argentinian far-right President Javier Milei. Posts featuring “Argentina” saw a sharp surge in Musk’s X posts. He mentioned the term 17 times since September 17, 2023. Before that, he talked about the country on only two occasions — both related to soccer.
HIS STANCE
Musk cites his family and emotional ties and commitment to democracy and free speech for his activism abroad. In the UK’s case, he mentioned his grandmother’s roots in Britain and in Germany’s case.
Musk brands himself as a speech absolutist. But the CEO of X, Tesla, and SpaceX does not have a clean record of free speech. Recently, X suspended a UK-based journalist who published an article about online theories suggesting that an X account was secretly run by Elon Musk himself.
In another case, he abused a student who called him “the largest spreader of disinformation in human history” using a slur for mental disability in an apparent violation of X’s own rules.
While the billionaire’s contributions to humanity are unparalleled in recent history, many fear Musk’s stardom and money might influence countries the way he wishes.
