U.S. President Joe Biden hinted Wednesday that Elon Musk’s purchase of social network Twitter could pose a threat to national security.
Asked whether he believed the South African tycoon could be a threat to US security and whether an investigation into his acquisition of Twitter would be appropriate, the US president said that Musk’s «technical relationships» «are worthy of scrutiny».
«I think Elon Musk’s cooperation or technical relationships with other countries are worthy of scrutiny. Whether he’s doing anything inappropriate or not, I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting that it’s worth looking at,» Biden asserted during a press conference in which he assessed the results of the midterm elections.
Biden’s statement opens the door to U.S. government scrutiny of Musk’s purchase deals from social networking site Twitter.
Moreover, the US president’s words come after several US media, such as ‘Financial Times’, reported that US officials were debating whether they had any legal avenues to review the billionaire’s activities, including the deal for the social network.
In this regard, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy showed his concern before the Foreign Investment Committee of the Upper House about the participation of the Saudi Arabian and Qatari governments in the acquisition of Twitter, which would amount to five percent.
«Given Twitter’s pivotal role in public communication, I am concerned about the potential influence of the Saudi Arabian government,» Murphy wrote to the committee in the Senate, according to ‘Financial Times’.
«Putting aside the vast amount of data Twitter has collected on U.S. citizens, any possibility that foreign ownership of Twitter will result in further censorship, misinformation or political violence is a serious national security concern,» he added.
