By Carlos Esteban*
(Opinion) Biden wants to block Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter on ‘national security’ grounds. An uncensored Twitter would be the undoing of the Democratic Party.
A Twitter without fraudulent algorithms that favor the official version over the elite would deal a blow, perhaps a death blow, to the entire “woke” power structure.
In the United States, where mainstream media is in the hands of the narrative of the powerful, they know this very well.
Donald Trump managed to circumvent the blockade of the mainstream press by using social networks that, even if they were against him, offered specific spaces of freedom, a mistake they do not want to repeat.
Therefore, the Biden administration cannot allow Elon Musk, the Tesla owner who has pledged to restore freedom of expression on Twitter, to take over thus the social network, which seems inevitable.
Even if they must invoke vague “national security reasons” to prevent it.
According to Bloomberg, the Biden administration, citing sources close to the negotiations, is discussing whether the country should subject some of Elon Musk’s companies to a national security review, including the business for Twitter and SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network.
In other words, they could block the purchase deal and “expropriate” Musk’s flagship satellite communications project.
And that’s only because Musk has asked aloud why no one is doing anything to advance peace negotiations in Ukraine and how the whole thing will turn out.
Bloomberg quotes:
“Senior U.S. officials were alarmed by Musk’s recent threat to stop supplying the Starlink satellite service to Ukraine – which has cost him US$80 million so far.”
“And about what they see as his increasingly friendly attitude toward Russia after a series of tweets that included peace proposals favorable to President Vladimir Putin.”
“They are also concerned about his plans to buy Twitter with a group of foreign investors.”
The debate, they say, has only just begun.
Senior U.S. officials and intelligence agencies are considering legal action to get their hands on Musk’s company.
One possible legal avenue would be to invoke the law governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review Musk’s business and operations for national security risks.
CFIUS has been used extensively in the Trump administration to block and reverse numerous Chinese deals, arguing that they could pose a national threat to the United States.
Not Hunter Biden’s, you understand.
And now it is Musk who has become the deep state’s greatest enemy.
CFIUS reviews acquisitions of U.S. companies by foreign buyers, but it’s unclear whether it would allow Musk’s deals to be reviewed in this case.
It may not even need to.
CFIUS is one of those opaque and diffuse institutions that would-be dictators care so much about.
They operate in complete secrecy and are not required to account for their deliberations, and their powers extend even to deals that have already been completed.
The paradox is that if the U.S. government were to act in this anti-freedom manner, it would be doing Musk the favor of a lifetime.
As the billionaire has been trying to back out of his bid to buy the social network and only has to buy it because he is being forced to do so by a court in the state of Delaware.
Twitter employees can also sigh relief as Elon Musk has announced that he will lay off three-quarters of the staff of professional censors.
* Carlos Esteban, 58 years, fifteen years at the leading economic newspaper EXPANSIÓN, then part of the Recoletos Group, the last three years as head of Interactive Services on the newspaper’s website. Then in Intereconomía, where I founded the Catholic weekly ALBA, I wrote opinion in ÉPOCA, where I also covered the International section, for which I was responsible when La Gaceta was born (as a generalist newspaper). For the last few years, I have been working as a freelance, collaborating with different media.