Musk on Wednesday called Le Pen “France’s last hope” on his social media platform X, in a post declaring his support for her presidential bid – which she confirmed earlier this month, even after her conviction for embezzlement was upheld on appeal(…)

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urged Musk to reconsider his position, writing, also on X: “Like we say in French: only fools don’t change their minds.”

Formerly known as Twitter, X has been the target of a French criminal investigation following two complaints alleging that its algorithm had been used for foreign interference.

French MP Antoine Léaument, of the hard-left France Unbowed, described Musk’s post as “foreign interference, which has begun for the presidential election”.