Jeff Bezos has questioned whether China will lean on Elon Musk’s Tesla business to quell criticism of Beijing on Twitter.
The world’s second richest man posted a tweet raising concerns over potential Beijing influence on Twitter several hours after the Tesla chief executive, and current holder of the No 1 wealth spot, reached a $44bn (£34bn) deal with the Twitter board to buy the influential social media platform.
Bezos quoted a post from a New York Times reporter that listed the importance of China to Tesla’s business, including the fact that it was the electric carmaker’s second largest market. The tweet said China may now have leverage over Twitter.
Bezos responded with: “Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?” Musk called Twitter the “digital town square” after striking a deal on Monday and has made his belief in open debate a central purpose for the acquisition.
The agreed takeover has triggered debate over the implications of a powerful and wealthy individual, with multiple business interests, owning a platform used by 217 million people that plays a key role in shaping the political and media agenda in the US and elsewhere.
Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square? https://t.co/jTiEnabP6T
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 25, 2022
Bezos, the founder and executive chair of Amazon, clarified his comments in subsequent tweets and said any Chinese pressure was unlikely to result in censorship. “My own answer to this question is probably not. The more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship at Twitter.”
He added: “But we’ll see. Musk is extremely good at navigating this kind of complexity.”
The White House has declined to comment on the Twitter sale, but said that Joe Biden has long been concerned about the power of social media platforms. “Our concerns are not new,” said White House spokesperson Jen Psaki on Monday. “The president has long talked about his concerns about the power of social media platforms, including Twitter and others, to spread misinformation.”
The Musk takeover, which must first be approved by Twitter shareholders before being completed this year, has proved controversial among Twitter employees. Speaking at an all-hands meeting on Monday after news of the deal, Parag Agrawal, the chief executive of Twitter, told employees that the future direction of the social network was uncertain.
“Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go,” Agrawal said.
Musk will join Twitter staff for a question-and-answer session at a later date, the company told employees.