The German Chancellor appears to have come up with a strategy to deal with the online political turmoil caused by the tech billionaire, Politico reports.
His approach? “Don’t feed the troll.”
“There are many on social media who want to grab attention with catchy slogans. The rule is: don’t feed the troll,” Scholz said in an interview with the German weekly Stern published on Saturday. “I don’t think we should try to curry favor with Mr. Mask I happily leave that to others,” he added.
it is the latest act in an ongoing stand-off with the businessman and owner of ‘X’, who has branded him a ‘stupid’ and predicted he would ‘lose’ in Germany’s snap federal election, scheduled for 23 February.
and has also attacked other German politicians, calling the president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier – also a member of the Social Democratic Party – an “anti-democratic tyrant”.
In a speech to the Bundestag, Germany’s lower federal house, the country’s president warned days ago against attempts to “influence from abroad” the parliamentary elections and referred to “X” by name.
Musk has expressed his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, causing a political firestorm in the country. Accusations from Berlin that it is trying to interfere in the upcoming elections were accompanied by further criticism of Scholz in his New Year’s speech.
As Politico points out, the Tesla CEO, who is expected to play a role in the new US administration due to his support for President-elect Donald Trump, is gaining more and more political influence, using the X platform (formerly Twitter), which he owns, to to promote his views.
Musk plans to host a debate with AfD leader Alice Weidel, who is the party’s chancellor candidate in February’s snap election, next Thursday.
In his interview with Stern, Scholz promised to keep his cool in the face of personal attacks.
“As Social Democrats, we are used to the fact that there are rich media entrepreneurs who don’t appreciate Social Democratic politics – and they don’t hide their views,” he said.
