In December 2024, Elon Musk posted a clip on X of a 24-year-old Cypriot lawmaker in the European Parliament arguing it was time to stop aiding Ukraine in its resistance against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion.
In one of his hallmark close-ups to the camera — that would have been music to Putin’s ears — the impassioned YouTube influencer Fidias Panayiotou said it was “crazy and inhumane” of European politicians to keep supporting Kyiv when it would never win on the battlefield.
This is a theme, of course, that is known to be close to Musk’s heart. The tech entrepreneur has vocally criticized U.S. military support for Ukraine and, since late 2022, has been in touch with Putin.
But how did Musk identify Panayiotou as a kindred spirit? The interaction between one of the world’s richest men, who is now poised to be a senior official in the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, and a relatively unknown EU politician begs the question: What’s the connection between the two?
A hug at Twitter HQ
For months, Panayiotou, then a 22-year-old influencer and Musk superfan, waited in front of the former Twitter headquarters in San Francisco in an attempt to give the boss a hug.
When he met with the Tesla and SpaceX chief in January 2023, the Cypriot ― widely known by his first name, Fidias ― wept with joy, before the two shared an awkward embrace.
“You say things very simple but you are this kind of weird guy,” Panayiotou, who was elected to the European Parliament last June, told Musk.
Panayiotou, who was elected to public office with no political experience and has presented himself as a know-nothing politician who can help average EU citizens navigate the inner workings of EU institutions thanks to his videos, is hard to pin down politically.
After he was elected as a lawmaker, he asked his followers whether he should join the Greens, who are left of center politically. More recently he has joined Andrew Tate, a far-right influencer who espouses misogynistic views on his podcast.
Increasingly, Panayiotou is taking positions that echo or match Musk’s own views, becoming one of Musk’s closest allies in the European Parliament.
Musk frequently reposts Panayiotou’s videos to his 211 million X platform followers, greatly expanding the young lawmaker’s reach. Panayiotou questioned whether European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s appointment had been a democratic one, noting that the deal took place behind closed doors rather than by a vote from EU citizens.
“Fidias has a good point,” Musk said, reposting the video on X. The point that Panayiotou made is commonly shared by extremists on both the left and the right in the hemicycle.
“It’s a weirdly public relationship,” Jesús Minchón, a Fidias adviser, told POLITICO.
Since their hug in early 2023, the two have maintained a relationship based entirely on social media interactions. As a result, the social network boss has found an influencer inside the EU institutions who can advance his own agenda.
“Elon Musk made a lot of new innovations in the world, and the world is a better place because of him, Tesla and SpaceX and all this stuff. And we hope also to bring some innovation, innovative ideas, into the parliament,” Fidias told POLITICO.
Asked about his plans for their future relationship, he said: “I don’t plan anything, if something comes, it will come naturally … I don’t demand anything, let the collaboration happen naturally.”
In recent weeks, Musk has made dramatic interventions with a far-right, anti-migration agenda in both German and British politics, most controversially by openly backing the populist Alternative for Germany party ahead of a Feb. 23 election.
Trump dismissed concerns about Musk’s repeated attacks on European governments, but Brussels is firing warning shots over what it sees as an attempt by Trump’s new co-director of the Department of Government Efficiency to interfere in European democracies.
A dig at the DSA
Inside the Parliament, Panayiotou has defended Musk’s agenda, especially when the tech tycoon runs headlong into the Digital Services Act, the EU rulebook that pushes large companies to curtail illegal content.
How platforms, specifically X, tackle misinformation ― including posts by Musk ― has become a key battleground for DSA enforcement, and the billionaire has accused the Commission of practicing censorship through the regulation.
Panayiotou recently repeated Musk’s arguments in a clip he entitled “free speech is under attack,” which Musk then reposted, hailing Fidias as “awesome” and saying the remarks came “from a member of the EU parliament!”
The MEP has also defended X’s Community Notes, which allow users to fact-check and label content, as opposed to the platform fact-checking posts. The Commission is investigating whether the program, a version of which was adopted this week by Meta, is in line with the DSA.
“Sometimes here in Europe we censor some voices we don’t like just by labeling them disinformation,” Panayiotou said during a debate on misinformation on social media platforms.
‘Fidias for EU President!!’
Not only is Panayiotou a mouthpiece for Musk, he has also been inspired by Musk’s leadership style.
He recently issued a call to reduce EU staff by 80 percent, an idea he said he got from Musk’s disruptive takeover of X, to force EU institutions to become more efficient.
“When you have so many workers working with their goal to regulate, you end up with so much bureaucracy that stops innovation,” Panayiotou said, repeating a point often put forward by industry lobbies and Big Tech in the EU.
Now, with 170,000 followers on X and 2.7 million followers on YouTube, Panayiotou has become the talk of the Brussels bubble ― for better or for worse.
While some senior politicians, such as the chairs of the Parliament’s culture and taxation committees, have tripped over themselves to appear in his videos, others have criticized them. On one occasion, Parliament Vice President Nicolae Ștefănuță referred to one of his videos as “misleading.”
It was his “biggest hero” Musk who influenced him to run for the European Parliament, Panayiotou said.
“Fidias for EU President!!” Musk wrote on X in November 2024.
Musk did not respond to a request for comment sent via X.
Kathryn Carlson contributed reporting.
The post Elon Musk’s man in the European Parliament appeared first on Politico.
