Elon Musk's Twitter bid gets netizens talking about Saudi money, espionage rumours

Elon Musk’s recent offer to buy the microblogging site Twitter has divided the platform again. Some are in favour of it and believe Musk would transform Twitter into a shrine of free speech. Others have opposing views and see this as a hostile takeover.

One of the most interesting facets of this issue that has come out on the forefront is Twitter’s ties with Saudi Arabia. This too has divided the netizens on the microblogging site.

There is one segment on Twitter which supports the theories that the site is being used as a means of espionage by the Saudi government. And, not surprising, there also tweets that try to pass these claims as conspiracy theories and hearsay.

Let us dive into what the netizens on Twitter think about the Saudi-Twitter debacle in light of Elon Musk’s offer to buy the social networking site.

The Twitter board’s ties with Saudi Arabia came into the spotlight on Thursday after Saudi businessman Talal Alwaleed took to Twitter to reject Elon’s offer to buy the microblogging site. Alwaleed tweeted,

Michael Cernovich, an American alt-right social media personality, conspiracy theorist, and political commentator also took his views to Twitter. He questioned why Saudi Arabia was trying to stop Elon from taking over the microblogging site.

It is noteworthy to mention that some of these tweets were also substantiated by proof. Alex Barredo, a tech enthusiast shared a link to a New York Times article about two former Twitter employees who were allegedly spying for Saudi Arabia.

Another netizen quoted a book that details how the Saudi government uses Twitter to silence dissent.

Then there was another section of the microblogging site that considered these claims as hearsay and conspiracy theories.

Some highlighted that Alwaleed was rejecting the offer only because the numbers did not add up. One user tweeted,

This section of Twitter also tried to clarify that Alwaleed’s company, though it is named Kingdom Holding Company, does not have any ties with the royal family, although there were also counter claims which suggested that Alwaleed was related to the royal family.

However, as a response to this claim, a Twitter user from Saudi Arabia clarified that the Saudi family has over 5000 members. He clarified that Alwaleed is distantly related to the family and holds no office. Moreover, his organisation has also received a lot of heat from the Saudi government over corruption charges.

It is worth mentioning that Elon also participated in this lively debate. His tweets kept stirring the pot and acted as fuel to fire in the conversations.

For instance, Musk had questions about journalistic freedom of speech. And asked this:

Elon also had a reply to Cernovich’s questions.

Well, it would be interesting to see how this situation pans out in the future.

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