AfD thanking Elon Musk: Where does platform influence cross into geopolitical meddling?

09 Eyl 01:45

Caught the headlines today about the German state election results and the AfD publicly thanking Elon Musk for his commentary on X. Between this and warnings from French officials calling it a critical moment for European stability, it feels like we're watching tech leadership blur into global politics faster than ever. As founders, most of us are taught to stay hyper-focused on product, distribution, and serving customers without needlessly alienating entire demographics or nations. But at the tier of ultra-scale tech moguls, running a platform is increasingly being used as a geopolitical lever to amplify specific political fringes abroad. From a tech and leadership perspective, where do you draw the line? Is this just the inevitable reality of running a public square where the owner has opinions, or are high-profile founders doing lasting damage to the global tech ecosystem by openly meddling in foreign elections? Curious to hear how folks here view this, especially anyone running teams or expanding products across Europe right now.