Jeff Bezos is curious about Elon Musk’s newest acquisition: Twitter. He raised concerns over the new deal between Twitter and Elon Musk and how it would impact users and other countries. Jeff wants to know whether Musk’s Twitter acquisition will give some leverage to China which used Twitter ads to spread propaganda in the past.
What did Jeff Bezos say?
Jeff Bezos embedded a tweet of a Twitter user who raised genuine concerns about the deal and its impact. The embedded tweet describes how Elon Musk was heavily dependent on China and it’s his second-biggest market after the U.S. “Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?” the Amazon chief asked on Twitter.
After that, he created a thread to answer his question. Bezos said that China couldn’t gain leverage on Twitter due to this deal. But, things could become rough for Tesla in China after this deal happens. China used Twitter to spread propaganda but Twitter’s new moderation feature curbed its reach in the audience. According to Bezos, China could strong-arm Tesla because Elon Musk owns it as well.
Adding to the Twitter thread, Jeff Bezos said that he believed that Elon Musk could evade this problem. He claimed that “Musk is extremely good at navigating this kind of complexity.“
Can China influence Twitter now?
The Chinese government blocks access to Twitter nationwide, but it used Twitter ads to promote articles that branded protests in Hong Kong to be wrong. After that, Twitter banned state-affiliated media from purchasing ads and added a labeling policy for accounts. China suffered a massive loss in engagement due to these changes.
Jeff Bezos’ speculations do spark concerns about Twitter being able to stop such a spread of misinformation in the future. Elon Musk wants to liberate Twitter users and may allow all the banned personalities like Donald Trump to come back again. Tesla relies on China for producing EV batteries and has the most efficient factory in the country. But this recent acquisition could result in some unwelcomed policy changes in China.
Maybe the Chinese government could coerce Elon Musk into building a China-friendly version of Twitter. What do you think of Elon Musk buying Twitter? Will it really give leeway to China to begin spreading false news and propaganda again? Share your opinions in the comments section below.
