(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., called for an investigation into Twitter out of concern that a Saudi Arabian company linked to the kingdom’s ruling family is now the second-largest shareholder.
Today I am requesting the Committee on Foreign Investment — which reviews acquisitions of U.S. businesses by foreign buyers — to conduct an investigation into the national security implications of Saudi Arabia's purchase of Twitter.https://t.co/IDwnKGaxt7
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) October 31, 2022
Kingdom Holding Company and the office of Prince Alaweed Bin Talal announced that they hold nearly 35 million shares of the social-media platform, even after Tesla CEO Elon Musk paid a hefty fee to make the acquisition, the Daily Wire reported.
Musk said he purchased the company to encourage free speech and fight political polarization; however, Murphy expressed the belief that Saudi Arabia’s potential role may change as the platform changes hands.
“Today I am requesting the Committee on Foreign Investment — which reviews acquisitions of U.S. businesses by foreign buyers — to conduct an investigation into the national security implications of Saudi Arabia’s purchase of Twitter,” the lawmaker said on social media.
“We should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in repressing political speech and impacting U.S. politics, are now the second-largest owner of a major social media platform.”
Murphy noted that both TikTok and Twitter would be owned “in whole or in part” by foreign powers China and Saudi Arabia.
Twitter has long operated as a globalist organization,with its most recent CEO, Indian-born Parag Agrawal, having implemented an extreme censorship agenda in Democrats’ favor after taking over from Twitter founding CEO Jack Dorsey.
Moreover, the Saudi royal family is a longtime shareholder in Twitter.
Murphy did not elaborate on why this became an issue only after Musk’s purchase of the platform. However, his sudden concern mimicks the talking points of other Democrats, who fear that the red-pilled classical liberal Musk may threaten their political hedgemony by undermining their monopoly on information.
“There is a clear national security issue at stake and CFIUS should do a review,” Murphy claimed. “This is a dangerous trend, and we don’t have to accept it.”
Although Saudi Arabia has long been regarded as a strategic trading partner, if not an immediate ally in the unstable Mideast region, Murphy’s calls for investigation also come in the midst of tensions with the Arab nation and the Democratic Party.
The United States’s alliance with the Saudis has come under some strain during the Biden administration, prompting it and other OPEC nations to restrict global petroleum output.
That helped to compound an already dire worldwide surge in oil prices, due in large part to President Joe Biden’s own move to cut U.S. energy production.
The Saudi government revealed in October that Biden had requested they delay the production cut until after the midterm elections had passed as part of an unspecified quid pro quo arrangement, possibly linked to their war with Yemeni terrorists.
