Connecticut Democrat Senator Chris Murphy has demanded a probe into Twitter in light of the fact that a Saudi Arabian corporation with ties to the country’s royal family has become the company’s second-largest shareholder.
According to a statement made by the royal last week, Kingdom Holding Company and the private investment office of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal control roughly 35 million shares in Twitter, notwithstanding Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media network. Murphy has requested that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States investigate the possible involvement of Saudi Arabia in the website’s future under new ownership, despite Musk’s claims that he bought the firm to promote free expression and oppose political divisiveness.
One senator announced on Twitter that he had requested a probe into the national security implications of Saudi Arabia’s purchase of Twitter by the Committee on Foreign Investment, which assesses purchases of U.S. enterprises by foreign purchasers. To paraphrase, “we should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in restricting political expression and influence U.S. politics, are now the second-largest owner of a significant social media platform.”
Murphy pointed out that China and Saudi Arabia would “in whole or in part” possess two of the most important American social media companies, TikTok and Twitter. The CFIUS should conduct a review because “there is a clear national security problem at stake,” he stated. This is an alarming trend that we may choose to reject.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia presides over the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, which owns 16.9 percent of shares in Kingdom Holding Company.
Leftists’ mistrust of Musk and his leadership of the social media platform has led to this idea. Before the end of the month, the world’s wealthiest man renewed his efforts to buy Twitter after battling the business in court over his attempt to rescind a previous bid, citing officials’ alleged underestimation of the number of bogus accounts on the network as the motivation. The CEO, Parag Agrawal, the CFO, Ned Segal, and the legal affairs and policy director, Vijaya Gadde, all had a part in the removal of former President Donald Trump from the platform and the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, so he dismissed them immediately.
In a statement released last week, Musk stated why he decided to purchase Twitter: “It is crucial to the future of civilization to have a shared digital town square, where vast ranges of opinions may be argued in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.” There is a real risk that social media may further polarize our society by creating echo chambers for people on the extreme right and far left.
Poor ties between Saudi Arabia and members of the Democratic Party predate Murphy’s requests for an investigation. After government authorities sought to restrict the global petroleum supply, resulting in a worldwide spike in oil prices, lawmakers began questioning the rationality of the United States’ continuing relationship with the country. It was then disclosed in a statement released by the Saudi government that Vice President Joe Biden had asked the kingdom to postpone the production cut until after the approaching midterm elections.
The killing of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who had been critical of the Saudi government, prompted President Trump to label the country a “pariah” during the 2020 election season. Two weeks ago, leaders from Saudi Arabia and China announced their intention to deepen their energy partnership.