In the past, the EU has not hesitated to try to apply European law to tech companies. Over the past decade, for example, Google has faced three fines totaling more than $8 billion for breaking antitrust law (though one of these fines was overturned by the EU’s General Court in 2024).

I would prefer to stay out of politics,” Elon Musk told his followers in 2021, on the platform then known as Twitter. Plenty has changed since then. The world’s richest man appears to have a new goal: upending Europe.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk addressed a rally for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Saturday, urging attendees to move on from past guilt related to the country's Nazi history. Newsweek has contacted Musk via an email to Tesla for comment.