J eff Bezos asked if Musk's takeover of Twitter would give China influence over the company.
The New York Times journalist Mike Forsythe had an observation that the Amazon founder added to his own. Did the Chinese government gain leverage over the town square?
The suggestion is that Musk will be vulnerable to pressure from Beijing because of his business interests in China.
China is the biggest market forTesla after the U.S. and the automaker is dependent on Chinese battery manufacturers. 75% of new sellers on Amazon in January are from China, and Bezos has interests in that country.
Musk may find it harder than he thinks to fix it.
The more likely outcome would be complexity in China forTesla, rather than censorship at Twitter, according to Bezos.
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.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 26, 2022
His comments came hours after the board of directors of the company approved the largest ever acquisition of a listed firm.
Musk's acquisition has stirred debate about free speech.
Musk is a self-styled free speech absolutist and has proposed easing up content moderation on the platform. The 50-year-old business magnate said he wants to make the social network's algorithm open-sourced to increase trust. He has promised an edit button.
Read more about what it means for Donald Trump's account.
The political right is happy. Republican Representative Jim Jordan of the conservative Freedom Caucus said it was a great day for free speech, while Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn hoped it would become what it was supposed to be.
Content moderation will be loosened if toxic rhetoric is allowed to flourish. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren warned that Musk's acquisition of Twitter was dangerous for our democracy.
We can be reached at letters@time.com.
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