MEDDLE POWER

It's no longer enough for Elon Musk to be the world's richest man - he wants to have a say in how the planet is run

- JANE VORSTER

IT'S like they've been friends for years – playing golf, cracking jokes over burgers, and watching sport. But these are no ordinary guys. One is the president of the United States and the other is the world's richest man.

Ever since Elon Musk stepped in to bankroll Donald Trump's presidential campaign last year, they've been inseparable. They're so close Musk has even coined a term for himself: “First Buddy”.

But commentators are worried about the sway the tech titan has over the president – particularly after it emerged that, in addition to helping Trump pick his new cabinet, he's also advising him on policy and sitting in on conversations with world leaders.

Trump even created a new department for Musk (53) to run: the department of Government Efficiency, which will tackle state bureaucracy and wasteful expenditure.

But insiders say it's not enough – what Musk craves now is the opportunity to influence global politics.

Commentators say his ownership of X makes him a unique threat to democracy – it's like he has a huge microphone, they say, and he can use it however he pleases. And now there's talk of him buying TikTok's US operations, which would make him even more powerful.

Musk says he has “a duty to protect civilisation” but others see it as political interference.

“I find it worrying that a man with enormous access to social media and huge economic resources involves himself so directly in the internal affairs of other countries,” Norway prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre says. “This is not the way things should be.”

HE'S HERE, HE'S THERE, HE'S EVERYWHERE

BRITAIN