Elon Musk Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize: Reports

Tesla and X, formerly Twitter, billionaire Elon Musk has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, according to multiple reports.

Musk was nominated by Marius Nilsen, a Norwegian parliament member with the libertarian Progress Party, who cited Musk’s support for free speech, his work in the tech sector and his provision of Starlink satellite internet to soldiers in Ukraine, the Daily Mail reported.

Musk, who was ranked No. 1 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of Monday with a net worth of $209 billion, is the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, and owns X, formerly known as Twitter.

Since taking over the social media company in recent years, Musk has stirred controversy by restoring banned accounts of right-wing figures including former president Donald Trump and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, according to the New York Post. Advertisers fled the platform following a Media Matters report that stated X allowed pro-Nazi content near ads from major brands, according to the Post, which noted that Musk sued the liberal watchdog group.

Musk also drew ire for his apparent agreement with one X user who blamed Jews for minority migration into Western countries, the Post reported.

Other 2024 Nobel contenders include repeat-nominee Trump and journalist Julian Assange, according to Politico, which reported Nilsen announced his nomination of Musk in local newspaper Agderposten.

There are hundreds of nominations each year by government officials and academics, the Post reported. Among past nominees are President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, according to Politico.