Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said he looked forward to joining his “‘new’ friend” Musk on his journey. Richard Nieva BuzzFeed News Reporter Posted on May 5, 2022, 10:36 pm View 81 comments Tweet Share Copy Pool / Getty Images Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the 2020 Axel Springer Award. When Elon Musk announced his bid to buy Twitter last month, he said he wanted to make the social network a beacon for free speech. But as Musk scrambles to pull together funding for the $44 billion deal, the billionaire is also planning to accept financing for the deal from two countries that have historically restricted freedom of speech: Saudi Arabia and Qatar. On Thursday, an SEC filing revealed new financiers for Musk’s takeover plan, which include Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. Both countries impose harsh censorship to quash dissent: A Qatari law states that spreading “false or malicious news” can land you in prison for five years, while in Saudi Arabia, critics of the government have faced arrest and even murder. Saudi Arabia ranks number 166 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index, while Qatar ranks number 119, according to Reporters Without Borders. Twitter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the financing. Prince Alwaleed wrote on Twitter that the Kingdom Holding Company, an investment firm he controls, would roll over its current $1.9 billion investment in Twitter to join Musk on “this exciting journey.” The move comes after Alwaleed spurned Musk’s plan in a tweet last month, saying the Tesla CEO’s offer didn’t come close to the “intrinsic value” of the company. KHC has been a Twitter stakeholder since 2011. Musk responded by asking about the size of the Kingdom’s stake in Twitter, as well as the country’s views on “journalistic freedom of speech.” Saudi Arabia has been frequently criticized for censorship and human rights abuses, including the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudi government has denied any involvement by its leaders.
via buzzfeed: #ElonMusk Will Fund His #Twitter Deal With Money From Countries That Suppress #FreeSpeech
Von <a href=”//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Duncan.Hull” title=”User:Duncan.Hull”>Duncan.Hull</a> – <span class=”int-own-work” lang=”de”>Eigenes Werk</span>, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link