As an industrial giant and the richest man in the world, Elon Musk has an influence on the global economy. Now he is using that success to expand his influence on the democratic process in Canada and elsewhere.
In the past week alone, Musk has taken several dives into Canadian politics on his social media platform; supporting the conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, showering him with praise, reposting his tweets and applauding his speeches and media interactions.
At the same time, he mocked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his resignationborrowing the language of President-elect Donald Trump to refer to him as “the governor.” They even call him Trudeau an “unbearable tool”.
The influencer venture took off in 2022 when it bought Twitter, renamed it X, and scrapped rules governing content moderation and misinformation. Describing the move as a defense of free speech, Musk quickly reinstated the accounts of Canadian influencer Jordan Peterson and President-elect Donald Trump.
He then spent more than $200 million supporting Trump’s successful re-election campaign.
His prize? A role leading Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency and, perhaps more importantly, listening to the president-elect.
Despite having more than 210 million followers on his own platform and Trump’s friendship, Musk seems to want more ears than Trump’s and is getting into political discussions around the world.
“It’s about positioning yourself on the global stage as a thought leader, so to speak, who can rise above politics but also align with it when it suits him,” said Andrew Chadwick, professor of political communication at Loughborough University in United Kingdom. .
“I mean with Musk [his advocacy has] has become aligned with what he sees as political movements around the world that share his anti-state, anti-regulation, anti-inheritance libertarian ideology,” Chadwick told CBC News.
Chadwick says Poilievre’s promise revoked online liberal government damage legislation, which conservatives say is overbroad and risks infringing on free expression, appeals to Musk, whom he describes as an “ideological platform mogul.”
Christopher Cochrane, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto, believes that simple “vanity” could drive Musk to enter political debates at home and abroad.
“It’s amazing that he was in a position to buy an entire social media network, almost a kind of alternate universe, and turn it into his own playground and place to promote his political views,” he said.
“Just as he was able to come up with electric cars and build a successful rocket company … now he’s just discovered another domain that other people aren’t smart enough or brave enough or brave enough or whatever to have solved,” Cochrane said. “There’s a kind of hubris about it.”
To be fair to Musk, Cochrane says “it would be hard not to be overconfident when you’ve had the success he’s had with PayPal and Tesla and SpaceX and all the other things.”
Cochrane explained that Musk has been so successful in getting the word out, not just because he’s rich, but because people may think his success naturally translates into other areas.
“Obviously there are people who have a great, very high level of political sophistication who don’t know anything about rockets and electric cars, and there are certainly a lot of people who know a lot about rockets and electric cars who don’t have particularly high political sophistication,” Cochrane said. . – That’s what happens here.
Chadwick has watched Musk closely in recent months as the X owner began to enter British politics, first backing Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and then in recent days turning against him when Farage refused to support extreme right-wing Tommy Robinson.
He says that when it comes to Musk’s interest in Canada, his posts on X are very closely related to Trump’s comments and attacks the president-elect has directed at his northern neighbor.
“It’s important to see this as part of an alignment of Musk’s interests as a media owner, a platform owner and the Trump administration,” he said.
Chadwick says the irony of Musk’s editorial positions is that when social media platforms emerged, their founders went to great lengths to argue that they should not be held to the same standards as media organizations.
“Yet here we have a platform owner with 210 million followers who is now quite willing to use that platform to further his personal political views,” he said.
In Germany, Musk supported the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, who is a fierce critic of multiculturalism. Some prominent members of the AfD were excommunicated for failing to condemn the war crimes of the Nazis.
Last year, a German court declared the AfD officially suspected of extremism, allowing German security services to continue monitoring their activities and communications.
Musk was accused in Germany of interference in the country’s upcoming elections on February 23 for supporting the AfD and promising to conduct a live interview on Xu with Weidel on January 9.
Current21:11Why is Elon Musk interfering in world politics?
Elon Musk recently made the false claim that the British Prime Minister is “deeply complicit in mass rape” and suggested that the country should be freed by the US. It’s just one example of a tech billionaire using his position and influence to meddle in international politics — what’s the bottom line?
Cochrane says that by comparison, Musk’s interest in Canada was much more benign.
“He controls an awfully big platform and has a pretty huge audience. And things aren’t going great in Canada, so if he’s focused on promoting Pierre Poilievre here, that’s absolutely not the worst thing he could do,” Cochrane said.
