The publicity was a potential boon for AfD, which has been frozen out of mainstream politics, in part, because its leaders have downplayed Nazi atrocities.

Musk tested the boundaries of foreign election interference, hosting AfD co-leader Alice Weidel for a livestream interview on X.

Elon Musk urged Germans to vote for the far-right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) in an upcoming election in a conversation with its leader on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that highlighted the US billionaire’s growing ambition to sway European politics.