“I think Musk is more of a threat than Trump. I think he’s a genuine fascist. I think he is somebody who loves the idea of being connected to stirring up a massive political movement.”
– Rory Stewart, former British diplomat and politician, current broadcaster and writer
Elon Musk’s foray into American politics is part disruptor, part kingmaker, and entirely indifferent to the rulebook. His substantial $277 million infusion into Donald Trump’s election campaign gives him an outsized influence over political outcomes, edging the country closer to an oligarchy. Musk, ever the agent of chaos, isn’t just playing the game: he’s rewriting it, one seemingly impulsive tweet at a time. Underestimate him at your peril – but one can find a blueprint hidden within his feed, allowing us to predict his next move.
From the beginning of his tenure as CEO in October 2022, Musk has championed X, formerly Twitter, as a stronghold of free speech, vowing to unshackle political discourse from the clutches of censorship. As a self-acclaimed “free speech absolutist”, he has vowed that the platform would “be very reluctant to delete things” under his reign. This, in turn, resulted in a 50% increase in hate speech on the platform within the first 8 months of his ownership. X was formerly a communal space for ideas, yet its transformation under Musk has seen it turn into a cesspool of polarising, controversial, and bigoted ideas.
The rhetoric of his posts act as a preview of the Musk political playbook. The unapologetically opinionated edifice of his posts serve not just as a backdrop for his behaviour, but rather the very structure that outlines his global political interactions. He labelled the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, “two-tier Keir” in a post in August 2024, accusing him of treating white far-right protesters harsher than minorities. His accusatory rhetoric has since ballooned into calls that “Starmer must go. He is a national embarrassment” on X in early 2025. What once began as social media stabs at Starmer evolved into a close —yet admittedly rocky— relationship with Nigel Farage and rumours of a $166 million dollar donation to his right-wing populist Reform UK party.
On December 22, 2024, Musk claimed that “the traditional political parties in Germany have utterly failed the people”. His referral to German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz as an “incompetent fool” and call for his resignation, came hot on the heels of the tragic German Christmas market attack in December 2024, where a car drove into the market and killed 6. Such commentary on X can be seen as a glimmer of the political meddling to come.
He has since used his platform to endorse the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) in Germany – a far-right populist party that has been identified by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a “suspected extremist” party, further labelling their “Young Alternative” youth wing as extremist in April 2023. He now has genuine relations and engagement with leader Alice Weidel through X livestreams and has spoken at an AfD rally via Zoom, claiming that they are Germany’s “only hope”.
Elon begins by voicing his strong – and often incendiary – opinions about political leaders and parties on X, stoking polarisation. This snowballs into a close relationship with opposition parties, who often tend to be far-right. Here we see a pattern emerge, and Australia seems to be flipping to the first chapter.
Musk’s online provocations have recently honed in on Australian politics. He branded the Australian government “fascists” in response to its social media ban for children under the age of 16. His outrage not only amplifies anti-government sentiments, but loosely mirrors his discontent with the political leadership in the UK and Germany. Moreover, earlier in 2024 when Australia’s eSafety Commissioner obtained a federal court injunction to remove a video of a violent stabbing in Sydney from X, they received a staunch refusal from Musk, with the videos only being blocked for Australian users. He called out the “Australian censorship commissar” for “demanding global content bans”.
Whilst this seems to be an exercise of free speech, it must be made clear it isn’t. Musk has before banned accounts on X who posted content he hasn’t agreed with. This includes journalists from New York Times, Washington Post and CNN who had been critical of him, and suspending other prominent journalists who had been critical of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Musk’s X has also empowered Australian neo-Nazis. Australia’s online safety watchdog has warned that the “perfect storm” of extremism is brewing due to X’s free speech policies.
One such group, National Socialist Network (NSN), were previously banned on X before Musk allowed their return to the platform. Some of Australia’s most prominent neo-Nazis, including Thomas Sewell, Blair Cottrell and Joel Davis, have gained hundreds of thousands of views on their X posts. Some of these posts are related to the NSN, for example regarding this years Australia Day Adelaide march, which saw 16 of its black-clad members arrested with various offences such as possessing articles of disguise, resisting arrest, and displaying a Nazi symbol. The choice to organise a neo-Nazi rally on January 26th was labelled a “brazen act of hate and division” by Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner, Girirharan Sivaraman.
In a December video with over 170,000 views, Davis stood on the steps of Victoria’s parliament with a banner reading “Jews hate freedom”, declaring “this country should not belong to the Jews. It should belong to white Australian people that built it”. The video is still live on X. By allowing such content to be displayed online, Musk fuels a dangerous movement.
Musk’s abolitionist censorship policies on X have already had significant consequences in Australia. Creating a platform for extremist rhetoric exacerbates political polarization and condones hate speech. If his track record with politics in the UK and Germany is any clue, we can safely assume that his growing focus on Australia means his influence here is only beginning.
Musk’s words aren’t hollow – they’re the opening moves in a much larger game. To find consolation in his rhetoric by labelling it as mere theatrics would be a mistake. With his track record, his flirtation with Australian politics isn’t a passing fascination – it’s a prelude to something far more concrete.
