BERLIN - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday sharply criticized Elon Musk's backing of the right-wing parties in the European Union, calling it \"really disgusting\" and said it was hindering democracy in the bloc.

The richest man in the world is backing far-right parties against a political establishment that has failed to deliver.

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.

The Commission said President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House did not affect its commitment to enforcing its laws.

Donald Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk proposed renaming the English Channel to the ‘George Washington Canal’ after America’s first president. After suggesting changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America,

The automaker saw sales of its EVs drop 13% in the European Union in 2024, and is facing growing pressure as rivals launch a wave of cheaper EVs.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Monday it would no longer post on X and would use rival Bluesky instead, becoming the latest organisation to quit a social media platform that some have criticised for its content.

How to deal with Donald Trump's disruptive return to the White House and the tempestuous forays of his billionaire ally Elon Musk into European affairs?

FILE - President-elect Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk as he arrives to watch SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lift off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Nov. 19, 2024. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP, File) BRUSSELS (AFP) — The EU on Friday ...

The European Union is assessing whether X has breached the bloc's tech rulebook. But what can it do if X's owner Elon Musk refuses to comply with the landmark digital services act?