Spain in an Uproar, How Far Will Musk's Interference Go?

"Wow" on the Foreigners' Sexual Assault Statistics Post

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who has been at odds with major European leaders due to repeated interference in domestic affairs, has now clashed with Spain.

On the 7th (local time), according to BBC and others, Pilar Alegr?a, spokesperson for the Spanish government, publicly criticized Musk's platform X (formerly Twitter) at a press conference, saying, "Such platforms must always maintain absolute neutrality and above all, must not interfere."

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, shared a post on X. X

This came after Musk mentioned statistics about foreigners imprisoned in Spain on charges of sexual assault. On the 5th, Musk shared a captured post of an article about a sexual assault conviction in Catalonia, northeastern Spain, on his X account, commenting "Wow."

The article, originally reported by the Spanish local media La Raz?n in September last year, stated that 91% of those convicted of sexual assault in the Catalonia region were foreigners, while immigrants make up 17% of the total regional population. Musk’s post and comment seemed to emphasize his claim that illegal immigration leads to an increase in crime rates, which provoked the Spanish authorities.

Salvador Illa, leader of the Catalonia Socialist Party, without directly naming Musk, said, "We cannot allow democracy to fall into the hands of a tech billionaire allied with the far-right," adding, "No one will be allowed to use the name of Catalonia to spread hate speech." Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S?nchez also denied any correlation between immigration rates and crime rates, stating, "In terms of crime, foreigners are neither better nor worse than Spaniards."

Spain’s crime rate has remained stable or decreased annually since 2011. In particular, a report released by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior in September last year showed that immigration has no negative or noticeable impact on crime rates.

AP Yonhap News

Recently, Musk’s expression of support for far-right parties in major European countries has deepened conflicts with the European mainstream political sphere. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer reacted strongly, calling Musk’s accusation that he covered up child sexual exploitation cases during his time at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) a "lie and incitement that has gone too far." German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also responded to Musk calling him an "incompetent fool" and demanding his resignation by saying, "Don’t feed the troll."

Meanwhile, Musk will hold a live-streamed discussion on X on the 9th with Alice Weidel, co-leader and chancellor candidate of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD). Ahead of next month’s German federal election, AfD is a far-right party advocating radical policies such as leaving the European Union (EU), restricting immigrant acceptance, abolishing the euro, and reviving the old Deutsche Mark. Musk recently expressed support in a contribution to the German weekly Die Welt am Sonntag, calling AfD "the last flicker of hope to save Germany," fueling controversy over interference in domestic affairs.