The tech billionaire is set to speak on Thursday with Alice Weidel, head of the AfD — Germany's far-right party. The outrage has crossed borders, with French President Emmanuel Macron also criticizing Musk and former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, saying the interview would give Weidel a "significant and valuable advantage." German civil society initiative LobbyControl meanwhile argues that the interview could even be seen as an illegal party donation. "Therefore we can indeed speak of political advertising in this case, because the Platform X usually sells this kind of reach for a lot of money," the group said in a statement, according to a CNBC translation. This is not the first time Musk has endorsed right-wing parties and figures in Europe.

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Persons: Elon Musk, Beata Zawrzel, Elon Musk's, Alice Weidel, Musk, Olaf Scholz, Stern, Friedrich Merz, Funke, Emmanuel Macron, Thierry Breton, Matthew Holman, Cripps, Holman, X, Thomas Regnier, Simone Ruf, LobbyControl, Nigel Farage, Labour's Keir Starmer Organizations: Twitter, Getty Images, CNBC, Union's Digital Services, German Digital Services Coordination, Center, Rights, DSA, European Commission Locations: Krakow, Poland, Germany, Europe, Britain