Marine Tondelier, leader of The Ecologists and candidate for France's 2027 presidential election, responded on Thursday to Elon Musk after he accused her of treason against France. Musk, the owner of social media platform X, made the accusation following her proposal to ban the platform during election periods. Tondelier stated that she would not take lessons in patriotism from the American billionaire.
In an interview with the newspaper Liberation on Wednesday, Tondelier was asked about recent cases of Russian election interference. She said threatening to close social media sites such as X appeared necessary during elections if interference was detected in advance. She added that besides attacks organized from abroad, the algorithm of X represented a much stronger interference in democratic life.
Tondelier also described the platform as the property of a person based in the United States with racist ideology who wants to push Europe into total submission to the U.S. She noted that Musk had clearly stated his desire to see far-right leader Marine Le Pen elected in France.
Exchange on Social Media
Musk commented on a post referencing Tondelier's proposal on Thursday, writing that he demanded she be silenced for treason against France. Tondelier replied to Musk on X in both English and French. She identified herself as the presidential candidate he wished to silence and said France would not accept patriotism lessons from a foreign billionaire who believes he can decide which European politicians to silence.
Tondelier stated that democracy was not for sale, even to the world's richest man, adding that she preferred being accused of defending democracy to trying to buy it. In mid-July, Musk had publicly backed Le Pen, describing her as the last hope for France. National Rally vice president Sebastien Chenu rejected criticism of Musk's comments, saying the businessman was not interfering in elections by expressing his opinion.
