Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has introduced a European version of Donald Trump’s famous “Make America Great Again” slogan, calling it “Make Europe Great Again” (MEGA).
The move is part of Musk’s ongoing campaign to support far-right political parties in Europe, including Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is set to participate in the upcoming German federal elections.
Musk’s latest post on X, formerly Twitter, reads: “From MAGA to MEGA: Make Europe Great Again.” The slogan mirrors the rhetoric used by Trump’s supporters in the U.S. and was also adopted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during his presidency of the European Union in 2024. Musk’s actions have been criticised by several European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who accuse him of attempting to influence European elections.
The European Union has intensified its investigation into X’s algorithms, particularly its content recommendation systems, as part of its efforts to ensure compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA). On Thursday, the European Commission requested documents related to X’s “recommender systems,” which suggest content to users based on their interests.
Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkunnen, stated, “Today we are taking further steps to shed light on the compliance of X’s recommender systems with the obligations under the DSA.”
In response to the investigation, Musk defended himself as a champion of free speech and democracy, accusing European leaders of trying to restrict these values.
“So many people in Europe lack hope for the future or think Europe is ‘bad’ in some way. Pervasive pessimism. This will lead to the end of Europe. Therefore, it must change,” Musk stated in another post.
The EU’s investigation follows a report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which found that Musk’s misleading claims about U.S. elections had been viewed nearly 1.2 billion times on X in August 2024. This has raised concerns about the platform’s role in disseminating misinformation and its potential impact on political discourse in Europe.