Elon Musk nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for being a ‘staunch supporter of free speech’

Billionaire Elon Musk — whose businesses range from satellites to social media — was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian lawmaker, who praised the X owner as a “strong supporter of free speech.”

Marius Nielsen, who is a member of Norway’s liberal Progress Party, said he nominated Musk because of his “unyielding defense of dialogue, freedom of speech and [της παροχής] of being able to express one’s views’ in an ‘ever more polarized world’.

Nielsen also praised Musk for providing Starlink satellite internet to Ukrainian soldiers who were in dire straits after the Russian invasion of their country began two years ago.

“The multitude of technology companies that Musk has founded, owned, or run, with the goal of improving societies, increasing knowledge of both earth and space, in addition to facilitating communication and connectivity globally… has helped make the world a more connected and safer place,” Nielsen noted.

The winner will be announced in October

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides the prize winner from a list of hundreds of nominations each year, accepts nominations from government officials as well as people from academia.

The nomination process runs until March and the winner is announced in October. News of Musk’s candidacy was first reported by the Daily Mail.

In addition to X and SpaceX, the world’s richest man also heads electric car maker Tesla, tunnel boring company The Boring Company and pioneering brain chip implant company Neuralink.

As of Monday, Musk’s fortune was valued at $213 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

In late 2022, it acquired Twitter for $44 billion with the goal of enabling unfettered speech.

Among his most controversial moves was the reinstatement of the accounts of figures such as former US President Donald Trump.