France has the power to freeze Elon Musk’s financial assets and could even jail him for foreign election interference under their laws.
Ever since the Tesla CEO did everything in his power to get Donald Trump into the White House, he has had his eyes on foreign elections he can impact as well, particularly in Europe.
Whether this has involved attacking the government here in the UK, eyeing up big donations to Reform UK, endorsing far-right parties in Germany or speaking at Tommy Robinson rallies, Musk is doing his best to interfere in European nations.
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Whilst here in the UK there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount the government can (or want) to do to stop Musk, one nation that might have the power to take action against him is France.
Last year, Emmanuel Macron’s government passed a bill designed to counter foreign interference in elections. The law expands online surveillance used to hunt down potential terrorist to also try and pinpoint perpetrators of foreign interference.
It also requires people lobbying for foreign interests to sign up to a registry, or face sanctions if they don’t. These foreign entities would include non-EU foreign powers, firms of which half or more are foreign-owned or -funded, and foreign political parties.
The bill also laid out the possibility of freezing the financial assets of people, firms or entities found to have engaged in foreign interference.
And it seems like the French already have Musk in their sights. Speaking in March this year, Macron seemed to accuse the billionaire of election interference.
He said: “”Who would have thought that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support the new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections.
“Who would have imagined it? This is the world in which we live.”
With French presidential elections scheduled to be held in April 2027 – assuming Macron holds on to power for that long – we should maybe watch this space as to whether France decides to take action against Musk, who will almost certainly voice his support for the far-right National Rally.