Tesla CEO Elon Musk could ‘agitate for far-right politics in Australia’ this election, senator claims

The federal government has been grilled over fears tech billionaire Elon Musk might “agitate for far-right politics in Australia” during the election.

The federal government has been grilled over fears tech billionaire Elon Musk might use his platform X, formerly Twitter, to “agitate for far-right politics in Australia”.

Greens senator David Shoebridge aired fears about the Tesla CEO’s influence in the upcoming election following his support for the far-right AfD party in Germany.

Musk has been vocal in his support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), despite the party being monitored over suspicions of extremism in some German states.

“Elon Musk is actively using his platform X to exercise foreign interference in the German election campaign,” Mr Shoebridge told Home Affairs Minister Murray Watt.

“And, we’re seeing it now in Ireland (and) we’ve seen it being aggressively used in relation to the United States.”

He went on to add: “We’re about to, quite imminently, go into an election.

Musk is widely seen as being instrumental in US President Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election. Picture: Supplied

“There is a real risk that Elon Musk will use his platform to agitate for far right politics in Australia in the election, active risk of foreign interference.

“Don’t you think that that should be under review,” he asked, referencing policies about use of X.

Mr Watt confirmed there had not been a review or a referral to the regulator of X, formerly Twitter, which Musk purchased in October 2022 for almost $70bn.

Asked if he was “disturbed” about foreign interference on X, Mr Watt said the government was “concerned about the risk of foreign interference from a range of sources.”

“I’m not going to sort of personalise it, or refer to particular cases, but clearly this is a big challenge that Australia faces,” Mr Watt said.

“All attempts at foreign interference are things we need to take seriously, and we always need to ensure that our policy framework is current and strong to deal with those.

“I’m sure the officials will give that consideration.”

Australian Greens Senator David Shoebridge said Elon Musk might ‘agitate for far-right politics in Australia’. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Rumours mounted in multiple senate estimate committees on Thursday that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese might call the election as soon as Friday.

Domestically, Elon Musk has regularly run up against the Australian government and its powerful eSafety commission, namely calls for content to be removed.

Mr Musk lashed out at eSafety Commissioner Inman Grant last year over her attempt to force X to take down a video of an alleged stabbing at a Sydney church.

The move was later abandoned, with Mr Musk separately attacking the Albanese government as “fascists” in relation to the government's misinformation bill.

The world’s richest man is widely seen as being instrumental in US President Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election, and is the unofficial head of the DOGE department.