Jeff Bezos took a dig at Elon Musk earlier today, right after reports of the world’s richest man buying Twitter went official. In his tweet, Bezos responded to a question on whether Musk’s takeover of Twitter gives China a little more influence over the popular micro-blogging platform. For the uninitiated, China has close ties with Tesla– Musk’s electric car making company. The country was Tesla’s biggest market in 2021, right after the US. China is also a major supplier for the batteries that go into Tesla’s cars.
New York Times journalist Mike Forsythe (@PekingMike) points out the connection between Twitter and China with Elon Musk being the common link in the chain. Bezos then quote-tweeted this and asked “Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square.”
Whether Bezos is raising a serious question here or simply poking some fun at Musk is a mystery, though. The Blue Origin founder later answered his own question. “My answer to this question is probably not,” he said, adding that that the takeover likely adds complexity in China for Tesla, rather than say censorship at Twitter. For the record, Musk is very vocal that Twitter needs to be an advocate for free speech.
“But we’ll see. Musk is extremely good at navigating this kind of complexity.” he added. Check out the response here.
Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square? https://t.co/jTiEnabP6T
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 25, 2022
But we’ll see. Musk is extremely good at navigating this kind of complexity.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 26, 2022
Musk had earlier tweeted that he’d like his critics to stay on Twitter even after a takeover as “that is what free speech means.” However, Forsythe and Bezos are not the billionaire’s only critics on the platform.
As of writing this story, ‘#leavingtwitter’ is one of the most popular hashtags right now in India as people continue to criticise the move. However, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is happy with the deal, approving it with a number of tweets oh his own and calling Musk as a singular solution that he trusts.
