Musk on Twitter Purchase: Less Uproar When Bezos Bought WashPo
Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. (Robyn Beck / POOL / AFP via Getty)
By Nick Koutsobinas | Sunday, 23 October 2022 09:17 PM EDT
Elon Musk agreed with a Twitter follower on Saturday who said his deal to buy the social media company is getting more negative attention than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' purchase of The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million.
"Not a single person wringing their hands about @elonmusk buying Twitter has ever had a problem with Jeff Bezos owning the @washingtonpost," author Michael Malice tweeted, to which Musk responded, "Good point," along with a pondering emoji.
According to a Bloomberg report from Thursday, a question now looms whether the United States government could block Musk's purchase of the company.
Bloomberg reports that anonymous people "familiar with the matter," said it is possible that "officials in the U.S. government and intelligence community are weighing what tools, if any, are available that would allow the federal government to review Musk's ventures."
The report implied U.S. officials are considering having the Committee on Foreign Investment review Musk's "deals and operations for national security risks."
Normally, the committee is reserved for Chinese-run firms' purchases of American companies.
While it's unclear what spurred a call for the committee, according to Matt Taibbi, "even the threat of such a move would represent a historic challenge to the First Amendment."
Business Insider reports that Musk announced plans to slash 75% of Twitter's 7,500 employees as well as reinstate former President Donald Trump back to the platform.