|
Twitter is blocked in China, where Musk, the world's richest
person, has key business interests.
Musk, who calls himself a free speech absolutist and has
criticised Twitter's content moderation policy, reached a deal
on Monday to buy the company.
Political activists expect that Musk's ownership of Twitter will
mean less moderation and the reinstatement of banned individuals
including former U.S. President Donald Trump.
There are also questions on what the deal will mean for
Twitter's China content policy as Musk's Tesla relies heavily on
China for production and vehicle sales.
"Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the
town square?" Bezos tweeted late on Monday.
"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 later tweeted.
Musk said in a tweet on Monday: "I hope that even my worst
critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech
means."
China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday there was no basis to
speculation that Beijing could try to use leverage over Tesla in
order to influence content on Twitter.
A Tesla spokesperson said the company has no comment. Twitter
did not immediately reply to a Reuters' request for comment.
(Reporting by Miyoung Kim, Martin Quin Pollard in Beijing,
Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; Editing by Himani Sarkar and
Jan Harvey)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
