nzherald.co.nz

Albanese may call election to overshadow budget speech, Musk’s influence questioned

Musk has been vocal in his support for the 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,” 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.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/FG4SAXA235GM5MYRIFYG4UYSSY.png?auth=5f58305dc4d7085c677b37176ae8fa8ebca3d446db0a280340e0ead9f5c288a7&width=16&height=9&quality=70&smart=true)

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

“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.

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 US$70 billion.

Asked if he was “disturbed” about foreign interference on X, 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,” 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.”

Rumours mounted in multiple Senate estimate committees on Thursday that Albanese might call the election as soon as Friday.

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

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 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.

Read full news in source page