Elon Musk used his social network X to promote Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party, known as AfD, hosting a live discussion Thursday with party leader Alice Weidel, a candidate for chancellor, ahead of a general election on Feb. 23.

“I’m really strongly recommending that people vote for AfD,” Musk, who is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX in addition to his role at X, said about a half hour into the conversation. “That’s my strong recommendation.”

The AfD has been classified as a “suspected extremist organization” by German domestic intelligence services. The party’s platform calls for rigid asylum laws, mass deportations, cuts to social and welfare support in Germany, and the reversal of restrictions on combustion engine vehicles.

Thierry Breton, former European Union commissioner for the internal market, said in a Jan. 4 post on X directed at Weidel: “As a European citizen concerned with the proper use of systemic platforms authorized to operate in the EU … especially to protect our democratic rules against illegal or misbehavior during election times, I believe it’s crucial to remind you” that a live discussion on X would give AfD and Weidel “a significant and valuable advantage over your competitors.”

While AfD has amassed about 20% of public support, according to reporting from broadcaster DW, the party is unlikely to form part of a coalition government, as most other parties have vowed not to work with it.

AfD previously protested the build-out of Tesla’s electric vehicle factory outside Berlin, in part because the factory would provide jobs to people who were not German citizens.

Musk’s earlier endorsements of AfD, including tweets complimenting the party and an editorial in a German newspaper, have enraged European government officials. Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, has also endorsed far-right and anti-establishment candidates and causes in the U.K.

Political leaders in France, Germany, Norway and the U.K. denounced his influence, NBC News previously reported, warning that Musk should not involve himself in their countries’ elections. 

Musk, who was one of President-elect Donald Trump’s top backers in November’s election, previously promoted Trump in a live-streamed discussion on X. Before that, he hosted a conversation with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who lost to Trump in the Republican primary.

Weidel during Thursday’s talk asked Musk about what Trump might do to bring Russia’s war in Ukraine to a conclusion, as the president-elect has suggested he could quickly do.

Musk demurred.

“To be clear this is up to President Trump, he is commander and chief, so it’s really up to him,” Musk said. “I don’t want to speak for him but you know I do think that there is a path to a resolution but it does require  strong leadership in the United States to get this done.”

Musk also weighed in on what he thought should be done in Gaza, which has been under attack from Israel since Hamas’ deadly incursion into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“There’s no choice but to eliminate those who wish to eliminate the state of Israel, you know Hamas essentially,” Musk said. “Then, the second step is to fix the education so that Palestinians are not trained from when they are children to hate and want the death of Israel.”

“Then, the third thing, which is also very important, is to make the Palestinian areas prosperous.”

— CNBC’s Sophie Kiderlin contributed to this report.

WATCH: Musk’s EU interference is not going to help Trump

Microsoft said Thursday that it’s contributing $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund.

The software maker is now more closely aligned with its highly valued peers in the technology industry. Google said earlier on Thursday that it’s donating $1 million to the Trump fund, and Meta offered the same amount in December. Amazon was reportedly looking to make a similar contribution.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in December that he would contribute $1 million individually, and Axios reported last week that Apple CEO Tim Cook will do the same.

Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO and the world’s richest person, has been advising Trump as he prepares to return to the White House following the inauguration later this month.

Microsoft also contributed $500,000 to the first inauguration fund for Trump’s first term and gave the same amount to President Joe Biden’s fund, a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, has met with Trump on multiple occasions, including over negotiations surrounding a possible acquisition of TikTok in the U.S. in 2020. Nadella also joined a Trump roundtable of technology executives from around the country in 2017.

Microsoft is hoping that under Trump, the U.S. will push artificial intelligence policy in a favorable direction.

“The United States needs a smart international strategy to rapidly support American AI around the world,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice chair and president, wrote in a blog post last week.

WATCH: Microsoft to end 2024 with capital expenditures of at least $53 billion

French video game publisher Ubisoft said Thursday it’s appointing advisors to review and pursue strategic options after a report last year suggested that its majority backers were considering a buyout.

Ubisoft said in a strategic update that “leading advisors” had been hired to explore “transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.”

“This process will be overseen by the independent members of the Board of Directors. Ubisoft will inform the market in accordance with applicable regulations if and once a transaction materializes,” the company said in a statement late Thursday.

In October, Bloomberg News reported that the Guillemot family who founded Ubisoft nearly four decades ago, and Chinese tech giant Tencent were considering a potential takeover of the firm. Shares of Ubisoft skyrocketed more than 30% on the report at the time.

“We are convinced that there are several potential paths to generate value from Ubisoft’s assets and franchises,” Yves Guillemot, co-founder and CEO, said Thursday, addressing the firm’s strategic plan.

The Bloomberg report followed a decision by Ubisoft to delay the release of the latest title in its popular “Assassins Creed” video game series, “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” by three months, to February 2025.

On Thursday, Ubisoft postponed the launch of “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” again, pushing it back to March 20.

Shares of Ubisoft have declined 45% in the past 12 months amid woes surrounding its pipeline of blockbuster title launches, as well as doubts over the company’s strategic direction.

Last year, activist investor AJ Investments called on Ubisoft to sell itself to private equity or Tencent. At the time, the investment firm said it had gained the support of 10% of Ubisoft’s shareholder base for its campaign.

The game maker had also garnered criticisms for plans to include a paid “Season Pass” for its new Assassin’s Creed game, which would have provided gamers access to a bonus quest and additional downloadable content at launch.

After gamers slammed the decision as adopting a “pay-to-play” model, Ubisoft decided to shelve plans for the paid feature.

Ubisoft is under pressure to prove it can turn things around. On Thursday, the company doubled down on a commitment to cut costs, saying it now expects to reach more than 200 million euros ($206 million) of cost reductions by full-year 2025 to 2026 compared to 2022 to 2023 on an annualized basis.