Sen. Chris Murphy is using his position as chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism to question the involvement of foreign investors in Elon Musk”™s acquisition of Twitter.
The Connecticut Democrat raised his concerns in a letter to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an inter-agency federal committee that reviews the national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. companies or operations. Murphy singled out the presence of Saudi Arabian and Qatari financial sources in Musk”™s $44 billion purchase of the social media platform as contributing to a potential national security risk.
“Federal and state government officials rely on Twitter to be a reliable medium to communicate vital information to the public,” Murphy said. “The possibility that a foreign power may now be able to influence the ability of the White House or a Governor to communicate with constituents must be thoroughly examined.”
Murphy also cited the human rights records of the Saudi government and questioned if it would use Twitter to silence its critics.
However, a Reuters study of the funding sources of Musk”™s Twitter found a multinational line-up of prominent North American, European and Asian banks and equity investors including Bank of America, Fidelity Management & Research Co., Lawrence J. Ellison Revocable Trust, Morgan Stanley and Societe General. Musk is providing much of the funding for the purchase from the profits he made in selling down his stake in electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc.
