Macron accuses Elon Musk of poll interference, he counters with dig at Starmer

French President Emmanuel Macron has accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of directly interfering in elections, in a fresh tussle between the billionaire businessman and world leaders. Musk, in turn, dismissed the French leader’s allegations, claiming that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer tried to influence the US elections by deploying party members to campaign against Donald Trump.

Citing it as an example of election interference, Musk further alleged that Starmer labelled Trump a racist and had said that the British government should take all necessary measures to prevent him from regaining power.

In the video, which Musk shared, Macron can be seen saying, “Who would have thought if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support the new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections”.

Responding to this, Musk said, “Oh like that time Starmer called Donald Trump a racist and said the British government should do everything to stop him? Or when Starmer sent British Labour Party members to campaign in the US against President Trump this year?”.

He also shared an old video of Starmer, in which the Labour Party leader criticised Trump over the 2020 killing of George Floyd, accusing him of fostering racist attacks and overseeing human rights violations during his presidency.

Elon Musk recently sparked controversy by making a series of statements targeting Starmer. The conflict escalated when the billionaire entrepreneur criticised Starmer’s handling of grooming gang cases during his tenure as Director of Public Prosecutions, accusing him of being “complicit in the mass rapes in exchange for votes”.

On Monday, Starmer vehemently denied these allegations and defended his record. Without naming Musk, the UK Prime Minister condemned those “spreading lies and misinformation” and reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring justice for victims of child sexual abuse, an issue that remains deeply sensitive in the UK.

In the past few months, Musk has got into spats with multiple global leaders. Earlier, he called the left-leaning German government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz a “fool” after the collapse of his coalition.