Spain’s Left-wing prime minister has called on the world to rebel against the threat to democracy posed by what he called the “Silicon Valley techno-caste”.

Speaking on Monday as Donald Trump was sworn in as US president for a second time, Pedro Sánchez accused American tech billionaires of “trying to use their absolute power over social media to control public debate and, therefore, government action, in the entire Western world”.

The Spanish leader said it was time for democratic governments to “fight back” against the threats posted by the far-Right and the distortion of debate by a few powerful businessmen in charge of social media platforms.

Mr Sánchez did not specifically name Elon Musk, but his comments about tech moguls’ attempts to disrupt democratic systems come after the owner of X took aim at several Western governments, including that of the UK.

Mr Sánchez warned about the rise of what he calls the “ultra-Right international” represented by leaders such as Argentina’s Javier Milei and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, a movement he said was being turbo-charged by social media influence.

“I want to be clear and concise on this, I will say it in less than 280 characters: democracy is not one euro, one vote; it is not one tweet, one vote; it is one person, one vote. Therefore, Europe must stand up to this threat and defend democracy,” Mr Sánchez said.

Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, will be in charge of the US department of government efficiency, which is aiming to cut trillions of dollars in federal government spending and slash red tape.