Just after entrepreneur Elon Musk became the new owner of Twitter, Saudi Arabia’s billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and his Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) did a U-Turn.
After initially rejecting Musk's takeover bid, Alwaleed did a volte-face, announcing that they will continue their ownership of Twitter shares valued at $1.89bn. This made Prince Alwaleed, with links to Saudi's royal family, the second-largest investor in Twitter, the highly influential social media giant.
The move also set off alarm bells among lawmakers in the US, who fear the Saudi investment in Twitter is a matter of concern for national security. Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator from Connecticut, was quick to bring attention to this when he called for "thorough vetting" of the Twitter deal.
"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 wrote on Twitter, "There is a clear national security issue at stake and CFIUS should do a review," his tweet read.
Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, who chairs the finance committee, too conveyed his concerns about the Saudi investment in Twitter. He has called for the Saudi regime to be blocked from accessing Twitter account information, direct messages and other data that could be used to identify political opponents or to suppress criticism of the royal family.
And, President Joe Biden's statement on Wednesday that "the cooperation or the technical relationships that Elon Musk is having with other countries is worthy of being looked at" has now attested to how significant these concerns are.
"Whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate, I'm not suggesting that. I'm suggesting that it is worth being looked at. That's all I'll say," Biden said on whether or not he thinks Musk is a threat to US national security.
Alwaleed’s influence on Twitter is ringing a warning bell in the US for several reasons, mostly for the fact that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund owns a major share in KHC, 16.9 per cent.
The Saudi's sovereign wealth fund is chaired by none other than its crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, which makes him a passive stakeholder in the social media platform where political discussions and discourses are a norm.
Twitter in Saudi
Though Elon Musk has often reiterated that free speech is his major agenda, the reason why he decided to take over the platform, many fear that Saudis, known for their repressive policies, will use the platform as a propaganda tool. Saudi Arabia has the eighth most Twitter users of any country, but tweets criticising the kingdom are always suppressed.
"I think it’s worth asking questions about what Saudi investment means for the security of Saudi dissidents and debate around Saudi issues. Will requests for actions against users be filtered through Alwaleed? Requests for user data or for the promotion of some networks?" David Kaye, a law professor at UC Irvine told The Guardian.
The fears are not entirely unfounded as a former Twitter employee was recently convicted of spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia. The accused was reportedly sourcing information on dissidents who used the platform and sharing it with officials in the Saudi government.
Convictions and arrests
Saudi has carried out multiple crackdowns on Twitter users, the recent being sentencing US citizen Saad Ibrahim Almadi, to 16 years in prison for posting tweets critical of the Saudi government. A 34-year-old woman, Salma al-Shehab, was also imprisoned for maintaining a Twitter account and for following and retweeting dissidents and critics of the government.
