The publicity was a potential boon for AfD, which has been frozen out of mainstream politics, in part, because its leaders have downplayed Nazi atrocities.

Elon Musk urged Germans to vote for the far-right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) in an upcoming election in a conversation with its leader on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that highlighted the US billionaire’s growing ambition to sway European politics.

In a conversation with AfD leader Alice Weidel on X, Musk concurred with her assertion that Adolf Hitler was a communist and pushed disinformation about migrants coming into the US.