Only then did Musk deny talking to Putin, since a conversation a year and a half ago about space issues.
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Bremer A time A columnist, magazine writer and head of the Eurasia Consulting Group stood by his account, tweeting: “Elon Musk told me he spoke with Putin and the Kremlin directly about Ukraine. He also told me what the Kremlin’s red lines are.”
Four days ago, Musk said in a Twitter conversation that he had been in contact with “very few” sides in the war.
The debate over whether Bremer was wrong, that Musk was exaggerating, or that Musk was retracting the truth failed to mask two deeper points Bremer made in his newsletter:
First, given the opposition of some Republicans to helping Ukraine, Musk’s takeover of Twitter and the possible return of former President Donald Trump and some of his allies to office would spread opposition and divide the country, threatening Ukraine’s support.
Second, Musk’s acquisition of his new free-speech company will stand up to his old businesses – SpaceX, which relies on the Pentagon and NASA, and Tesla, which relies on China for scarce material resources.
“Each of these three are huge bets on a very different future for the technopolar world. They are also the most geopolitically opposed business models I have ever seen one person pursue. Or perhaps the largest hedge in the world,” Bremer wrote.
Brett Schafer, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s Securing Democracy Alliance, said Musk’s contacts with Chinese and Russian officials and business interests abroad would create unprecedented dilemmas if he ended his deal to buy Twitter.
“Most of these platform owners have had to remain neutral on issues related to politics and geopolitics,” Schaefer said. “His freestyle approach to communicating with autocrats will certainly create challenges in how to understand the platform.”
Although Musk said he would get rid of bots on Twitter, Schafer said there was little clarity about how Musk would respond to other types of foreign influence operations. He said it was unclear how Musk would deal with a Russian hack and leak, as happened in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, or whether Chinese government officials should be allowed to join the platform, which is inaccessible to citizens.
In recent years, the major social media companies have taken “a stand for democracy over authoritarianism,” Schaeffer said. “It will be interesting to see which direction it turns if and when Musk takes over.”
What many worry about Twitter is that the lion’s share of Musk’s fortune is his stake in Tesla, so the platform is likely to suffer in any conflict between worldviews.
Tesla achieved record sales of its cars in China in September, even as competition with local electric car makers intensified.
After Musk tweeted about Ukraine a week ago, a Chinese Communist Party commentator said Global Times He cited it and wrote to half a million followers on Twitter that Musk “believes a lot” in free speech in the United States and the West. He will learn a lesson.”
Within days, Musk opened in a financial times In an interview about how Taiwan should be governed like Hong Kong, he was praised by China’s ambassador to Washington: “I would like to thank elonmusk for his call for peace across the Taiwan Strait and his idea of creating a special administrative region for Taiwan.”
Barrett and others said they weren’t afraid of Musk bringing Twitter to China and back to Russia, saying it might help citizens connect more.
Instead, they worry that Twitter without much moderation will allow those governments’ propaganda to wreak more havoc than they actually do.
“Elon Musk is entitled to his views and his speech, but let’s just say that Freedom House would welcome the opportunity to brief him more comprehensively on egregious human rights abuses in Russia, China and elsewhere in the world before he takes ownership of one of the world’s largest nonprofit organizations,” said Michael Abramowitz, president of the nonprofit Freedom House. , which tracks rights globally.
Ukrainians are fighting to protect their basic liberties. Taiwan is a democracy where people enjoy these freedoms every day, knowing the threat they face from the People’s Republic of China. We believe that all democracies and pro-democracy businesses should support and defend these freedoms globally.”
Accountable Tech, a left-leaning group that advocates for regulation of tech giants, sent a letter last week to congressional leaders calling for an investigation into Musk’s ties to foreign actors. The letter says that Congress should use its subpoena powers to determine whether Musk has been in contact with senior officials in the Kremlin or in China “who could use this acquisition to undermine US national security interests”.
The group’s two leaders, Nicole Gill and Jesse Lerich, wrote, “It is critical that Congress promptly investigate the national security implications of this acquisition and take steps, as necessary, to protect American democracy and independence.”
Washington Post
Originally published at Melbourne News Vine
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