A major German news website has attacked one of its main rivals over its competitor’s decision to publish an article written by Elon Musk.
Der Spiegel released its English-language criticism of Die Welt‘s move on January 8, alleging the publication ignored warnings from its own newsroom about releasing the opinion piece written by Musk, citing what it said were leaked emails.
According to Der Spiegel, the emails revealed that journalists at Die Welt viewed the Musk article as “propaganda” for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, the right-wing political group currently holding second place in the latest German polls.
Der Spiegel article went on to suggest that — despite claims to the contrary made by those working with Die Welt — it was the CEO of parent company Axel Springer, Mathias Döpfner, who gave Musk the opportunity to have his piece published in the newspaper’s flagship Sunday edition on January 5.
Justifying the claim, Der Spiegel said “many people” inside Die Welt believed he was responsible, although the article did not provide any evidence for that.
It added that Döpfner did an interview with Musk in 2020 that the news group deemed constituted “flirtatious fawning”, characterising the CEO as a “Musk acolyte”.
Der Spiegel also alleged that Döpfner had right-wing views more broadly and was pro-free speech.
It added that it believed Die Welt appeared to be moving to the Right on certain issues. It also claimed the publication was looking to merge some of its operations with the German-language editions of fellow Axel Springer-owned publications Politico and Business Insider.
Brussels Signal approached Die Welt for comment but none had been received at the time of writing.
The Musk piece seemed to mark the latest example of German journalists’ infighting following the publication of an article by the US tech billionaire in December. Die Welt‘s Comment Editor Eva Marie Kogel resigned shortly after it was released.
Politicians in Germany expressed outrage at the latest incident, with one senior member of the ruling Social Democrats describing the paper’s decision to publish Musk’s pro-AfD article as “shameful and dangerous”.
Europe’s Socialist parties have demanded Brussels take action against Elon Musk and his X social media platform over his alleged “manipulation” of the continent’s politics. https://t.co/ewgQCTnBnv
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 8, 2025
