Elon Musk, a prominent figure in the tech industry, recently made headlines by endorsing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper as the country gears up for crucial parliamentary elections. This move stirred controversy and resulted in the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor in protest.
Germany is preparing for an early election on February 23 following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition due to disagreements on how to revitalize the nation’s sluggish economy. Musk penned a guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag, a publication under the Axel Springer Group, showing support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party for the second time this month.
Musk’s statement has sparked a discussion in German media regarding the limits of freedom of speech. The opinion editor of the newspaper, in response to Musk’s actions, decided to step down, highlighting her stance on Musk’s preferred platform, X.
“I always enjoyed leading the opinion section of WELT and WAMS. Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. I handed in my resignation yesterday after it went to print,” Eva Marie Kogel wrote.
A critical article by the future editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Jan Philipp Burgard, accompanied Musk’s opinion piece.
“Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong,” Burgard wrote.
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Responding to a request for comment from the German Press Agency, dpa, the current editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Ulf Poschardt, and Burgard — who is due to take over on January 1 — said in a joint statement that the discussion over Musk’s piece was “very insightful”.
“Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression,” they wrote to the dpa.
“This will continue to determine the compass of the “world” in the future.
“We will develop Die Welt even more decisively as a forum for such debates.”
