X owner Elon Musk has denounced what he called the “two-tier” justice system in Germany amid increasing tensions between the US President-elect Donald Trump appointee and senior European Union officials.
Musk was commenting on X on November 27 about a decision earlier this year by the Cologne prosecutor’s office not to pursue a criminal case against an individual who had allegedly called for violence against the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on national television.
In February, former Eintracht Frankfurt football club president Peter Fischer had lashed out against the party, claiming its growing popularity was evidence that a large percentage of the German population were “Nazis”.
“Run down their doors and gates, slap them, puke in their faces. I don’t give a damn,” he added.
According to an FAZ report from November 26, for the Cologne prosecutors such a call to violence, while real, could not be considered serious and the sports entrepreneur was merely expressing himself in a figurative manner.
Critics noted Germans have been arrested for social media posts that did not call for violence, as merely insulting a politician in Germany can be considered a crime under federal law.
Musk appeared to have taken the side of the critics, reposting another user raising awareness about what was described as the prosecutors’ ignoring of speech “instigating attacks on AfD voters”.
“Another case of two-tier justice,” Musk wrote in his post on X that has already been seen over 6.8 million times.
X-owner Elon Musk has deployed the platform’s “Grok” artificial intelligence chatbot in a “vulgar” post mocking former German chancellor Angela Merkel amid increasing tensions between Eurocrats and the US billionaire. https://t.co/UgUU1ZwYXA
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 26, 2024
He has become increasingly vocal regarding EU affairs, regularly criticising European leaders over what he said was their failure to support free speech.
This has prompted backlash from one former Eurocrat.
The Tesla billionaire has also been accused of “interference” in EU affairs by former Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
On November 27, responding on X to Musk’s claim that the “EU parliament should vote directly on matters, not give up authority to the EU Commission”, Breton appeared to suggest that the billionaire’s comments were inappropriate.
“In French we call this ‘interference’,” Breton said.
Among responses to the ex-Eurocrat, one X user wrote: “Private citizen are allowed to comment on other countries affairs. And he makes a good point,” while another said, “You’d be speaking German if we didn’t interfere in your surrender in WW2.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has opened a social media account on rival platform BlueSky in response to many of her colleagues leaving X.
A recently launched petition demanding a new general election in the UK has gained traction after being retweeted by US tech mogul Elon Musk. https://t.co/nSKPMYhlPF
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 25, 2024
