Without naming him, Italian President Sergio Mattarella clearly rebuked Elon Musk, calling on him to “respect [Italy’s] sovereignty” after Musk used his social media platform X to criticize Italian judges for a ruling Monday that effectively blocked the implementation of Italy’s asylum-processing deal with Albania. The rebuke notably comes one day after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced that Musk would co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency.” (AP)
Our Take
This is not the first time that Musk has caused controversy with a U.S. ally with his comments on X, formerly Twitter. In August, Musk drew the ire of British PM Keir Starmer after Musk peddled far-right conspiracy theories and amplified anti-immigrant rhetoric on X related to violent race riots targeting asylum-seekers in the United Kingdom. Later that month, Brazil temporarily banned X after the platform, under Musk’s instructions, refused to comply with orders to ban accounts that Brazilian authorities said were spreading misinformation.
To be sure, in both of those cases, Musk’s political viewpoints—now clearly dominated by far-right and conspiracy-laden ideology—were at odds with officials in the U.K. and Brazil. By contrast, Musk is close friends with Italian PM Georgia Meloni, and his remarks about the Italian judges wasn’t that different from the criticisms expressed by Meloni’s political allies. So while Italy’s largely ceremonial head of state may have rebuked Musk, Italy’s far-right government is unlikely to follow suit.