The Biden administration is reportedly considering subjecting two of Elon Musk’s business ventures to a national security review.
Bloomberg News spoke with individuals familiar with the matter who claimed that the Tesla CEO’s acquisition of Twitter and his management of the SpaceX Starlink satellite network have raised some concerns in the Biden White House.
Talks that could determine whether or not Mr Musk will be subject to review are still in their infancy, according to the source.
The SpaceX chief has issued numerous tweets highlighting proposals to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine — all of which tend to favour the Russians keeping illegally annexed sections of the country — while complaining that he cannot fund Starlink’s internet service in Ukraine indefinitely.
After pitching one proposal that required Ukraine both to remain neutral in the future and to accept the loss of Crimea to Russia — and provide it with water — Ukrainian diplomat Andrij Melnyk offered a direct reply to Mr Musk.
"F*** off is my very diplomatic reply to you," he said to Mr Musk.
The Tesla CEO said he was cutting funding to Starlink a few days later. Mr Musk eventually flipped his position and said in a tweet that he would "just keep funding Ukraine gov’t for free."
The Biden administration is reportedly still determining if it even has the legal grounds for reviewing Mr Musk’s businesses. The source speaking with Bloomberg said that a law governing the Committee on Foreign Investment may provide a pathway for justifying such a review.
Mr Musk’s consortium in place to purchase Twitter includes foreign investors, which could trigger a review by the CFI. The group includes Prince Alwaleed bin Talal from Saudi Arabia and the Shanghai-based organisation Binance.
The Tesla CEO originally attempted to back out of the $44bn Twitter deal, claiming the company lied about the number of automated users — or bots — operating on the site. However, after a series of lawsuits between Mr Musk and Twitter, he eventually broke and decided to proceed with the purchase, delighting Twitter’s investors but worrying others, including users concerned with hate speech on the platform and Twitter employees.
The review may not be bad news for Mr Musk; he liked a Twitter post from a user saying “it would be hysterical if the government stopped Elon from overpaying for Twitter.”
On Friday, Mr Musk announced he planned to cut 75 per cent of Twitter’s staff when he takes over the company. An analysis by The Washington Post found that such a move would likely degrade both the user experience and user security.
The Independent has reached out to Mr Musk for comment.
