PARIS: France's foreign minister on Tuesday accused the billionaire tycoon and owner of the X social media platform Elon Musk of "online harassment" of European leaders, as he sounded the alarm over the risks of interference in the French 2027 presidential election.
Jean-Noel Barrot warned that ahead of the April-May election – in which far-right candidate Marine Le Pen has her best ever chance of winning the Elysee – "the enemies of democracy will do everything to destabilise us."
"They exploit our divisions and exploit issues such as immigration, secularism, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to stoke hatred and tension," he said at a conference organised by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
He singled out an Israeli company – which he did not identify – that he said had created fake French accounts to post over the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
But Barrot also took aim at the "massive online harassment campaigns by Elon Musk against European leaders, aimed at influencing national debates by exploiting the viral nature of his social network."
With France rocked by several weeks of protests by high school students over their conditions, Barrot complained that some coverage of the demonstrations online had been marked by "hostile narratives originating from Russia and China, as well as Iran and the MAGA community" in reference to the supporters of US President Donald Trump.
Trump had last week written on his Truth Social network that "what's happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration."
Musk had then commented to his 241.5 million followers on X: "It's an invasion in slow motion, but an invasion nonetheless. And those who support the invasion are traitors who deserve the fate of all traitors."
Barrot vowed that France would hit back.
"We do not tolerate any foreign interference, from wherever it may come. It is a matter of sovereignty," he said.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday it was "clear" Russia had interfered in the UK's bitter 2016 Brexit referendum that resulted in its exit from the European Union.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd