It’s a long way from the Passage West Town Council to taking on the world’s most powerful billionaire – but newly minted EU Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath is doing just that.
The former Cork South-Central TD and Minister for Finance is only recently in the job but is now finding himself holding the line for the European Union against an increasingly belligerant Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla and Twitter/X who has waded into German, UK and European politics.
Musk last night hosted a live web interview with the joint-leader of the far-right German party Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel as that party is tipped to make major gains in the upcoming German elections.
Musk, seen as a key ally of incoming US President Donald Trump, has endorsed the AfD and the 74-minute conversation ranged across energy policy, German bureaucracy, Adolf Hitler, Mars and immigration.
The world’s richest man has unequivocally urged Germans to back Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in forthcoming elections.
However, just before the web event on Twitter/X, Commissioner McGrath warned the EU is prepared to act if the event breached European law.
The former Cork TD said the EU would be closely monitoring the event to see if Musk used X’s in-built algorithms to artificially boost the prominence of the interview to hand an advantage to the AfD in upcoming German elections.
The former finance minister told RTÉ: “The issue at hand is whether there is unfair amplification of certain content. There is never an issue or problem with the conducting of any interview. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in the EU, and it falls to me to ensure that that right is upheld and protected at all times.
“But clearly, very large online platforms have enormous power, and they have the ability to amplify certain content above and beyond other content.”
Musk has been accused of using his platform – and his 200 million plus followers – to interfere in European elections and politics, and of amplifying far-right and extremist rhetoric.