Elon Musk's tweets about Ukraine, Taiwan and Kanye stoke worries about Twitter ownership - The Washington Post

Billionaire industrialist Elon Musk’s moves person heightened alarm about what helium volition bash with Twitter, which helium has faulted for being excessively restrictive about ineligible but mendacious oregon hateful speech.

Since autocrats already usage the level to dispersed lies astir opponents and whip up unit and mayhem, Musk’s pursuit of support from 2 of the astir almighty is particularly unnerving.

“It’s a precise bully illustration arsenic to wherefore it would beryllium a catastrophe if Musk does travel to ain Twitter,” said Paul Barrett, lawman manager of New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. “You could person provocations, whether engineered by Musk himself oregon by others, that could person planetary implications.”

The latest scrutiny came Tuesday, erstwhile salient geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer said Musk had been speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier tweeting retired a three-point program for Ukraine that would permission Crimea, taken by unit successful 2014, successful Russia’s hands.

“I spoke with Elon 2 weeks ago, and helium told maine Putin (in a nonstop speech with him) was `prepared to negotiate’ … and had outlined the minimum the Russian president would necessitate to extremity the war,” Bremmer wrote to newsletter subscribers.

As connection dispersed connected a 2nd time of intensive Russian attacks connected civilian colonisation centers successful Ukraine, instrumentality professors speculated connected whether Musk should person registered arsenic a overseas agent.

“Logan Act” became 1 of Twitter’s trending topics successful the country, referring to the 223-year-old instrumentality that bars backstage citizens from conducting overseas policy.

Only past did Musk deny speaking to Putin, since a speech a twelvemonth and a fractional agone astir abstraction issues.

Bremmer, a Time mag columnist and writer arsenic a good arsenic caput of the Eurasia Group consultancy, stood by his account, tweeting that “Elon Musk told maine helium had spoken with Putin and the Kremlin straight astir Ukraine. helium besides told maine what the Kremlin’s reddish lines were.”

Four days prior, Musk said successful a Twitter speech that helium was successful interaction with “quite a few” parties successful the war.

The statement implicit whether Bremmer was mistaken, Musk had been exaggerating, oregon Musk was backtracking from the information failed to obscure 2 deeper points Bremmer made successful his newsletter:

First, fixed absorption to aiding Ukraine among immoderate Republicans, Musk’s Twitter takeover and the apt reinstatement determination of erstwhile president Donald Trump and immoderate of his allies would dispersed absorption further and disagreement the country, threatening Ukraine’s backup.

Second, Musk’s acquisition would pit his new, free-speech concern against his aged businesses — SpaceX, which relies connected the Pentagon and NASA, and Tesla, which relies connected China for scarce carnal resources.

“Each of these 3 are immense bets connected wholly antithetic futures for a technopolar world. They’re besides the astir geopolitically opposed concern models I’ve ever seen a azygous idiosyncratic pursue. Or possibly it’s the world’s biggest hedge,” Bremmer wrote.

Bret Schafer, a elder chap astatine the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy, said Musk’s communications with Chinese and Russian officials and concern interests overseas volition make unprecedented dilemmas if helium closes his woody to bargain Twitter.

“Most owners of these platforms person had to stay neutral connected issues related to authorities and geopolitics,” Schafer said. “His freewheeling benignant of communicating with authoritarians is surely going to make challenges with however the level is perceived.”

Though Musk has said helium volition escaped Twitter of automated bots, Schafer said determination has been small clarity astir however Musk would respond to different types of overseas power operations. He said it is unclear however Musk would grip a Russian hack and leak operation, such arsenic occurred successful the run-up to the 2016 statesmanlike election, oregon whether Chinese authorities officials should beryllium allowed to articulation the level that citizens cannot access. A Saudi prince is readying to support a involvement successful Twitter arsenic the woody closes, adjacent though a erstwhile Twitter worker was convicted of spying connected dissidents for the government.

In caller years, large societal media companies “have taken a basal connected the broadside of ideology implicit autocracy,” Schafer said. “It volition beryllium absorbing to spot what absorption that shifts successful if and erstwhile Musk takes over.”

Because Twitter is overmuch smaller than different societal networks similar Facebook and YouTube, Musk volition person a greater quality to micromanage contented moderation decisions and dealings with overseas leaders than executives astatine different societal networks, said Rose Jackson, the manager of the Democracy & Tech Initiative astatine the Atlantic Council. Yet contempt Twitter’s smaller size, it wields immense power implicit cardinal determination makers successful media and politics, creating unsocial nationalist information risks.

Jackson said that the Committee connected Foreign Investment successful the U.S., a cross-government radical that reviews overseas transactions involving American firms, “probably isn’t sufficient” successful addressing the nationalist information risks presented by the Musk deal.

“It brings to the fore whether we person capable tools to code genuine nationalist information risks and however tech companies, and peculiarly accusation tech companies, are financed,” said Jackson, a erstwhile entrepreneur and State Department official.

What worries many astir Twitter is that the lion’s stock of Musk’s wealthiness is his involvement successful Tesla, truthful that successful immoderate struggle among satellite views, the level would beryllium astir apt to suffer.

Tesla had grounds income of its vehicles successful China successful September, adjacent arsenic its contention with section electrical conveyance makers intensifies.

And Twitter already has issues with China perchance gathering accusation astir its critics done advertizing and spying, according to a caller whistleblower ailment and testimony by erstwhile information main Pieter Zatko. He said the FBI warned the institution that a Chinese quality operative was moving there.

After Musk’s Ukraine tweet a week ago, a commentator for the Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times cited it and wrote to a half-million Twitter followers that Musk “believes excessively overmuch successful the U.S. and West’s 'freedom of speech.’ He volition beryllium taught a lesson.”

Within days, Musk opined successful a Financial Times interview that Taiwan should beryllium governed similar Hong Kong, winning praise from China’s ambassador to Washington: “I would similar to convey @elonmusk for his telephone for bid crossed the Taiwan Strait and his thought astir establishing a peculiar administrative portion for Taiwan.”

Barrett and others said that they were not acrophobic of Musk bringing Twitter to China and backmost into Russia, saying that could assistance citizens pass more.

Instead, they fret that a Twitter without overmuch moderation would let propagandists for those governments to wreak much havoc than they already do.

“Elon Musk is entitled to his opinions and speech, but let’s conscionable accidental Freedom House would invited the accidental to little him much thoroughly connected the egregious quality rights violations successful Russia, China and elsewhere successful the satellite earlier helium takes ownership of 1 of the largest tech platforms,” said Michael Abramowitz, president of nonprofit Freedom House, which tracks rights globally.

“Ukrainians are warring to support their cardinal freedoms. Taiwan is simply a ideology wherever radical bask those freedoms each day, and they cognize the menace they are facing from the PRC. We judge that each democracies and democracy-supporting businesses should enactment and support these freedoms globally.”

Accountable Tech, a left-leaning radical that has advocated for regularisation of tech giants, sent a missive past week to legislature leaders that called for an probe into Musk’s relationships with overseas actors. The missive says Congress should usage its subpoena powers to find whether Musk is successful connection with elder officials astatine the Kremlin oregon successful China “who could usage this acquisition to undermine American nationalist information interests.”

“It is captious that Congress instantly analyse the nationalist information implications of this acquisition and instrumentality steps, arsenic necessary, to support American ideology and independence,” the group’s leaders, Nicole Gill and Jesse Lehrich, wrote.