US might bail Musk out by blocking Twitter deal over national security

After the richest man in the world, Musk, decided he would move forward with his plan to buy Twitter for what experts say is nearly four times its current worth, even though he didn't really mean to. According to The Washington Post, if Musk takes over the company, he plans to cut 75 percent of the staff. The Biden administration may launch national security reviews into Musk's satellite internet deals. Many commenters think that the reviews will block the deal because Musk wants it.

A staff memo was sent out by the company denying any layoffs. Musk does not seem to be talking about this on the record, but he did show how funny it is.

It would be hysterical if the government stopped paying for the service. Musk used a 100 percent sign and a cry- laughing face in his reply.

💯🤣

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2022

This doesn't seem to be good for the social networking site. In pre-market trading, the shares of the social network fell.

According to the interviews with people familiar with the matter, US officials were not comfortable with Musk threatening to stop funding Starlink service in Ukraine and discussing solutions to the war that would be favorable to Putin. The Biden administration is trying to avoid national security threats when it comes to Musk deals.

If the US has the legal tools to conduct reviews into Musk's deals, current talks are focusing on that.

The law governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is governed by a panel that reviews acquisitions by foreign buyers of US businesses, according to a report. It is not clear if the law supports national security reviews of Musk's deals. Everyone would be kept out of the loop if the reviews were launched. It will be hard to track if the US tries to go that route because the CFIUS doesn't comment on any acquisitions it may be reviewing.

The White House is worried that a Musk-owned Twitter could give Americans' data to Russia because it collects so much data on Americans. Forbes reinforced Biden's fears about China-owned TikTok this week, as it was reported that ByteDance would use TikTok data to track Americans. The process of launching security reviews of Musk's deals seems more complicated than Biden's plan to avoid TikTok security concerns.

There are no reports of US officials holding these discussions. Ars did not get a response from Musk, his lawyer, or the social media company.

Musk said last week that he would continue to provide Starlink services in Ukranian. Musk responded to a top Kremlin official with a warm message, but within the last few hours, Musk said that removing Putin would not fix the situation.

Should the merger be allowed to go ahead, the Biden administration will join the staff of the micro-messaging service in watching Musk's feed and wondering what the consequences will be.