Musk Calls Radio Free Europe ‘Radical Left’ – But History Tells a Different Story

RFE/RL spent decades countering Soviet propaganda and was long backed by US conservatives. Now, Musk’s call to shut it down reflects a broader effort to discredit independent media by branding it ‘left-wing.’

Tech oligarch Elon Musk called on the Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) to be shut down, amplifying US Presidential envoy Richard Grenell’s earlier statement labelling RFE/RL and US international broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) as ‘a relic of the past.’ Musk’s comment on X drew criticism from media and political analysts, who say it was another confirmation of the Trump administration’s open endorsement of autocratic regimes.

‘Putin and Lukashenko, along with those in charge in Tehran, Kabul, Ashgabat and elsewhere in Central Asia, must be ecstatic,’ RFE/RL and VOA veteran and acclaimed journalist Jolyon Naegele told Visegrad Insight in response to Musk’s and Grenell’s statements.

Musk also wrote that ‘apart from the stifling bureaucracy’, Europe is already free and described RFE/RL and VOA as ‘just radical left crazy people talking to themselves.’