South African-born billionaire Elon Musk accused by France of harassing European leaders

South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, the world's richest person and owner of social media platform X, was accused by France's foreign minister on Tuesday of running "massive online harassment campaigns" against European leaders, as Paris warned of foreign meddling ahead of next year's presidential election.

Jean-Noël Barrot, France's minister for Europe and foreign affairs, made the remarks at a conference in Paris organized by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Agence France-Presse reported. He said Musk used the viral reach of his platform to try to shape national debates in Europe.

"We do not tolerate any foreign interference, from wherever it may come," Barrot said, calling it "a matter of sovereignty." France votes for a new president in April and May 2027, and Barrot warned that "the enemies of democracy will do everything to destabilize us." He said such actors exploit divisions over immigration, secularism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Billionaires.Africa could not find a public response from Musk or X to Barrot's comments.

Posts on French unrest

Barrot's comments come after weeks of protests by French high school students, who have blocked the entrances to hundreds of schools across the country since late September to demand better conditions. Some of the demonstrations have led to clashes with security forces, and about 250,000 people marched across France on Oct. 6.

Barrot said some online coverage of the protests carried "hostile narratives originating from Russia and China, as well as Iran and the MAGA community," according to AFP. He also said an Israeli company had created fake accounts posing as French users to post about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, without naming the firm.

On Oct. 6, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that "What's happening in France is nothing less than out-of-control mass migration," adding: "This isn't about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great Country!"

Musk responded on X, where he has 241.5 million followers. "It's an invasion in slow motion, but an invasion nonetheless," he wrote, adding that "those who support the invasion are traitors who deserve the fate of all traitors," AFP reported.

A long-running clash with Europe

Musk has repeatedly waded into European politics. He openly backed Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany party, writing that "only the AfD can save Germany," and has amplified British far-right activist Tommy Robinson and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

His relationship with French authorities has been tense. Paris prosecutors opened an investigation in January 2025 into claims that X was used to interfere in French politics, and the inquiry has since expanded to cover Holocaust denial, sexual deepfakes and possible complicity in distributing images of child sexual abuse. Musk and former X Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino are among those under investigation. Police raided X's Paris office in February, and X called the raid an abusive and politically motivated judicial action and denied any wrongdoing. Musk did not respond to a summons for an informal interview with prosecutors.

At the European level, the European Commission fined X €120 million ($134 million) in December 2025 for breaching the Digital Services Act, the bloc's law governing large online platforms. Barrot urged the Commission in January 2025 to apply its laws "with the greatest firmness," saying that otherwise it should give member states the power to do so.

Musk, who was born in Pretoria and runs SpaceX and Tesla, was worth about $977.2 billion on Tuesday, according to Forbes, after a fall in SpaceX shares pushed him below $1 trillion.