"Freedom of opinion"

Elon Musk of all people is happy about praise from the chancellor

"In many respects, we are in agreement. It was an honor to speak with you," Elon Musk wrote to Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

(Bild: x.com/karlnehammer)

It seems almost bizarre that Elon Musk, of all people, who has campaigned excessively for Donald Trump and spread sometimes hair-raising false reports on his platform X, should be pleased to receive praise from the German Chancellor on the subject of freedom of opinion. 

But right from the start: Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer traveled to Paris on Saturday for the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral. Among the guests of honor were the newly elected US President Donald Trump and his intimate and major donor Elon Musk. The thoroughly eccentric Tesla boss took over Twitter and renamed it X in 2023. 

Criticism of Musk's X course
Since then, criticism of the platform has been mounting, with prominent users from politics, business and the media turning their backs on X. It is said that there is no longer any room for exchange on X and that insults are the rule. The reporting system for hate posts has largely collapsed. Criticism of X and Musk himself, on the other hand, was repeatedly deleted without comment. 

US authors Kate Conger and Ryan Mac described the effects of the multi-billionaire's takeover in their book "How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter". In an interview with Reuters, they said: "Musk is trying to be antagonistic to the news media." Serious media were deliberately downgraded and journalists were also branded as untrustworthy. In addition, Musk had made excessive election advertisements for Donald Trump and spread some false reports himself. 

Chancellor praises importance of "freedom of opinion"
Despite this development, Chancellor Karl Nehammer praised the importance of X "for freedom of speech and opinion" in a post after the meeting with Musk in Paris: "It was a pleasure to meet you and discuss economic policy issues," Nehammer wrote to Musk, who then shared the post and replied: "In many respects we agree. It was an honor to speak with you."

The Austrian head of government also met with Donald Trump. "We recently spoke on the phone and met in person yesterday in Paris. Austria and the United States of America are close partners and work together on economic and security issues, such as our joint efforts for peace in Europe. I look forward to further intensifying our cooperation," Nehammer wrote.