The U.S. President Joe Biden stated that the connections of the new owner of Twitter Elon Musk with other countries "are worth paying attention to."
The Guardian writes about it.
Biden said this in response to a question about whether he considered Musk a national security threat and whether the U.S. government should investigate his acquisition of Twitter by a Saudi conglomerate.
"I believe that Elon Muskʼs cooperation and/or technical relations with other countries deserve attention. Is he doing something inappropriate? I donʼt assume that. I think theyʼre worth paying attention to," Biden noted.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the richest investors in the Middle East, and his investment company became the second largest investor in Twitter after Musk bought the company.
Two U.S. senators — Democrat Ron Wyden, who chairs the Finance Committee, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut — last week called for a "thorough review" of the deal.
Earlier, the White House said that the information about the U.S. intentions to check some of Muskʼs businesses, including Twitter, "does not correspond to reality."
- On October 2, Elon Musk published a series of tweets on his Twitter with assumptions about the "most likely" end of Russiaʼs war against Ukraine. He offered users to vote for the following: hold a repeat vote in the regions annexed by Russia under the supervision of the UN; Russia is leaving, if the will of the people is for it; Crimea is formally part of Russia, as it was since 1783 (before Khrushchevʼs "mistake"); water supply to Crimea is guaranteed; Ukraine remains neutral.
- Later, Elon Musk posted another "vote" on Twitter. He asked users whether residents of the occupied Crimea and Donbas should decide in which country they should live — in Ukraine or in Russia. Many outraged Ukrainians came to Musk in the comments. In response, President Zelensky asked which Elon Musk everyone likes more — the one who supports Ukraine or the one who supports Russia. In the comments, Musk himself came to him and noted that he supports Ukraine, but worries about the consequences of the war for the world.
- Later, in an interview with the Financial Times, Musk proposed to make Taiwan a special administrative region of China, following the example of Hong Kong.