Essence
Elon Musk has said that he bought Twitter because of concerns about freedom of expression. But at the same time he has also said that social media sites should follow the law there in every country. Saudi Arabia is also one of these countries.
Expansion
Concern has increased among US officials after the news of Saudi Arabia's large investment in Twitter surfaced. A senator of the Democratic Party has called for a parliamentary inquiry into the matter, calling this investment against national security. Recently, the microblogging site Twitter has been bought by the world's richest industrialist Elon Musk. He made this purchase for $ 44 billion. In this connection, it has come to the fore that Saudi Arabia also has an investment in Twitter.
According to the information revealed, the investment in Twitter is from a Saudi Arabian company. The company is owned by the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is said to have invested in various social media sites through this company, which are considered to be platforms for political discussion. The Saudi Arabian government is accused of vigorously repressing freedom of expression.
Elon Musk has said that he bought Twitter because of concerns about freedom of expression. But at the same time he has also said that social media sites should follow the law there in every country. Saudi Arabia is also among these countries, while it is alleged that there is almost no freedom of expression. Saudi Arabia ranks eighth in the world in terms of the number of Twitter users.
The name of the company investing in Twitter is Kingdom Holding Company, whose founder and chairman is Saudi Crown Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The total value of this company's investment in Twitter is estimated at $1.89 billion. Saudi Arabia's Sovereign Wealth Fund owns 16.9 percent of the Kingdom Holding Company. The Sovereign Fund is currently headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It is a common understanding that the real power of Saudi Arabia is in the hands of Prince Salman.
Democratic Party Senator Chris Murphy said on Monday that I am requesting the Congressional Foreign Investment Committee to investigate Saudi Arabia's role in the purchase of Twitter. . Murphy said- 'We should be concerned about Saudi Arabia. Saudi leaders are interested in suppressing political expression and influencing American policies. Now he has become the second largest investor in a major social media platform.
Earlier this year a former Twitter employee was sentenced in the US for spying for Saudi Arabia. The employee was found to be collecting information about people dissatisfied with the Saudi government and sending those information to the Saudi Arabian government. That former employee named Saad Ibrahim Almadi has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.
On the other hand, according to a report published in the British newspaper The Guardian, this year a man named Salma al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years in prison in Saudi Arabia for retweeting tweets of opponents of the government. Due to this background, Saudi investment in Twitter now seems to be a big issue here.
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