The German Chancellor delivered a pointed New Year’s Eve address, insisting German citizens would decide the fate of the country themselves and encouraging unity in response to a recent attack in Magdeburg.
German leader Olaf Scholz told voters that they would decide the outcome of Germany’s upcoming elections on 23 February over the “owners of social media channels” in a pointed pre-recorded New Year’s Eve address.
His comments come after tech billionaire Elon Musk publicly endorsed the extreme Alternative for Germany (AfD), first on his social media platform X and then in an op-ed for the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
“In general, one can sometimes get the impression in debates that “the more extreme the opinion, the more attention it gets,” the chancellor added. “But it is not the person who shouts the loudest who decides how things will continue in Germany. It is the vast majority of reasonable and decent people.”
“You, the citizens, decide what happens next in Germany. The owners of social media do not decide that.”
Although Scholz did not mention Musk or X, the Tesla founder and close associate of Donald Trump has caused uproar in Germany by backing the AfD. Musk has insisted he favours the party’s economic policies and has repeatedly said the party should not be labelled “far right”.
On Monday, a government spokesperson said that Musk’s comments show he is trying to influence the upcoming election, and noted the tech billionaire is encouraging voters to cast their ballots for a party that is nationally classified as a suspected terrorist organisation.
Politicians from across the political spectrum expressed outrage at Musk’s commentary, with co-leader of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), Lars Klingbeil, comparing Musk unfavourably to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying both wanted to “interfere” in the German elections.
Elsewhere in his speech, the chancellor noted that there had been a surge in disinformation on X in the aftermath of an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg on 20 December which killed five people and left hundreds injured.
“No small number of these rumours and conjectures, though, have meanwhile been debunked. These things divide and weaken us,” Scholz said. “This is not good for our country.”
The attack was allegedly carried out by a Saudi-born perpetrator who arrived in Germany in 2006 and displayed anti-Muslim sentiment online. Authorities in Germany have said the man’s profile set him apart from those had previously carried out such attacks, and have cautioned against jumping to conclusions about his motivations.
Nevertheless, the AfD has capitalised on the incident. The party’s leader, Alice Weidel, held a rally in Magdeburg where she described the attack as an “act of an Islamist full of hatred for what constitutes human cohesion … for us Germans, for us Christians”.
Musk too has weighed in on the incident, criticising German authorities on X and writing that Scholz should resign over the attack.
