Elon Musk, the tech mogul and head of the newly formed U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) within the new Trump administration, is continuing his campaign to support politicians, this time Greek Cypriot MEP Fidias Panayiotou.
On Saturday, he shared one of Panayitou’s videos and urged his followers on X to support the MEP in his campaign to become vice chair of the European Democracy Shield, a new European parliamentary committee tasked with ensuring democratic transparency and combating disinformation and foreign interference within the bloc. Musk praised Panayiotou as a “smart, super high energy” representative who “genuinely cares about you.”
Musk and Panayiotou first came into contact in January 2023 after Panayiotou, at the time only a popular YouTuber, had conducted a months-long effort to meet and hug Musk, whom he has called his “biggest hero,” at the headquarters of what was then still Twitter in San Francisco. The two finally embraced on Jan. 21 of that year – National Hugging Day in the United States.
Panayiotou, now 24, began his public career by launching the Fidias Podcast on YouTube in 2019. The channel has featured videos of Panayiotou’s travels around the world as well as interviews with celebrities and public figures, including Andrew Tate, Nigel Farage, and many Cypriot politicians. He has also filmed himself performing various stunts, such as spending a week inside a coffin. His channel has been highly successful and currently has over 2.7 million followers.
Many of his videos on X publicize the inner workings of how Brussels operates, including salary figures for politicians or how the voting process works in the European Parliament,
How Much European Commissioners Get Paid? pic.twitter.com/f7y9JpM4u7
— Fidias Panayiotou (@Fidias0) January 25, 2025Panayiotou announced his candidacy as an independent for the European Parliament in April of last year. Although he had no prior political experience, he claimed his campaign was a means of raising political awareness among youth. Emphasizing issues that are especially important to young people such as education and cryptocurrency, he came in third on the Cypriot list with 19.4% of the votes.
Panayiotou has taken a novel approach to his job, conducting online polls to determine his party affiliation – he has remained an independent, at his followers’ urging – and how he should vote on issues in the European Parliament. Since taking office he has used his YouTube channel to interview other Cypriot politicians as well as, controversially in Greece, Ibrahim Beycanli, a Turkish Cypriot influencer.
While Panayiotou has no clear political program or affiliation, since becoming an MEP he has increasingly begun repeating many of the same talking points that are dear to Musk, causing some to accuse him of being Musk’s “puppet” – a claim Panayiotou has denied on social media.
Am I @elonmusk 's Puppet? pic.twitter.com/hnRjteRz0l
— Fidias Panayiotou (@Fidias0) January 22, 2025Nevertheless, Panayiotou has echoed many of Musk’s own concerns, such as by calling for the European Union to stop sending aid to Ukraine in order to force an end to the war there. Also like Musk, Panayiotou has taken aim at European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, questioning whether her reelection to the post was conducted democratically.
Panayiotou has likewise accused the European Union’s Digital Services Act of being an attack on freedom of speech; Musk’s X has been an object of particular concern for the EU, which claims that the platform is often used as a means of spreading misinformation and thus must be further regulated. Panayiotou’s effort to be elected as the European Democracy Shield’s Chair is therefore seen by some as a means of protecting Musk’s interests from within the European Parliament itself.
Musk, in turn, has further bolstered Panayiotou’s fame by often retweeting his videos and praising his political statements. In recent weeks Musk has been using his new political role to support various right-wing causes in Europe, such as by praising the Alternative for Germany party and calling to “Make Europe Great Again!”
The European Defense Shield is scheduled to elect its chair and vice-chair this week.
