(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos has been getting slammed on Twitter after asking if Elon Musk‘s recent acquisition of the social media platform could give the Chinese government leverage over free speech, Breitbart reported.
After Musk’s acquisition of Twitter was announced, Bezos retweeted a post from New York Times reporter Mike Forsythe, pointing out Musk’s business dealings with China.
“Apropos of something: Tesla’s second-biggest market in 2021 was China (after the US). Chinese battery makers are major suppliers for Tesla’s EVs,” tweeted Forsythe.
“After 2009, when China banned Twitter, the government there had almost no leverage over the platform. That may have just changed.”
Bezos said in response, “Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?”
Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square? https://t.co/jTiEnabP6T
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 25, 2022
Many have pointed out that despite Musk’s strong ties with Chinese business, criticism coming from Bezos is especially rich.
Amazon has censored criticial reviews of Chinese leader Xi Jinping‘s book, Amazon products such as Echo and Kindle are made in Chinese factories and more.
Breitbart previously reported on Chinese students being poached from schools and hired as “interns” by factories:
“Over 1,000 students, as young as 16, were drafted from schools, hired by the factory as ‘interns,’ and pressured to work overnight and weekend shifts for meager salaries,” the report reads. “Chinese labor laws allow 16-year-olds to work, but not during either night or overtime shifts.”
“Student laborers said their work had nothing to do with their studies in school, the ostensible reason they were sent to the factories as ‘interns.’ Nevertheless, their teachers told those who complained, also paid by the factory, that their grades and scholarship applications might suffer if they refused to work.”
People did not let Bezos off the hook for this criticism:
The purveyor of counterfeit Chinese goods and man whose company literally manipulated Xi JingPings Book Reviews to only include 5 stars has entered the chat https://t.co/yuNDsu9D5f
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) April 25, 2022
Almost everything on your website is crap from China
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) April 25, 2022
Interesting that you ask this question about Twitter but haven’t said a peep about your concerns about Chinese influence over, say, BlackRock (the world’s largest asset manager). Or countless other companies. I wonder why.
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) April 25, 2022
Incredible lack of self-awareness
— SETH WEATHERS (@sethweathers) April 26, 2022
After being supremely mocked, Bezos answered his own question:
My own answer to this question is probably not. The more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship at Twitter.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 26, 2022
