Is Elon Musk going to compromise Twitter for his business prospects in China?

Ever since he took over the platform, Elon Musk has been tweeting consistently, and constantly – barring his time in China. Being the most followed person on the platform, Musk is a prolific tweeter.

However, during his visit to China, Musk has been conspicuously absent from the platform. Needless to say, Musk’s radio silence on the platform is uncanny. Even when he has been in areas where Twitter or any other platform has been blocked, Musk has used VPNs to access the platforms he usually does. So why isn’t he doing so in China?

Musk, Twitter and China – a complicated relationship
Twitter has been blocked by China for a long time. With that being said, several Chinese citizens, especially journalists have been using VPNs to access blocked websites and platforms, like Twitter.

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Before Musk took over, Twitter, which was often considered to be left-leaning by the Americans, was also considered “too liberal” and “too American” by the Chinese. Before Musk Took over, Twitter would often call out and label posts from China’s state agencies and businesses that had Chinese propaganda. As a result, interaction with those posts went down dramatically.

Twitter also had at times blocked China’s attempt to find out the details of certain users whose tweets and posts were critical of China. The world got to see the best examples of this, during the COVID pandemic, and how the CCP cracked down on people, especially doctors over their social media posts on the way the situation was being mishandled.

Also read: Elon Musk In China: Tesla CEO meets Chinese Foreign Minister and Commerce Minister

Because Chinese social media platforms were complying with the CCP’s orders, people turned to Twitter through a VPN. Of course, the use of a VPN is also illegal, but that’s more difficult to track. However, those who have been caught using VPNs have paid dearly for this.

Even Musk had a tussle with China during the pandemic. Musk has been a believer that the COVID pandemic was the result of a lab leak in Wuhan. At this, the CCP went berserk, essentially warning him to refrain from making such comments. There were several editorials across Chinese dailies that basically said the same thing – that Musk was breaking the pot that’s feeding him, which, is similar to the proverb biting the hand that feeds one.

Musk’s businesses in China
The pot that was being referred to in those Chinese editorials from earlier this year refers to Tesla’s Shanghai plant, which Musk has been planning to expand. However, because of the crunch of natural resources that China is facing, the CCP has set limits on the production capacities that EV factories need to abide by.

The Chinese have the fastest-growing EV market in the world and are among the fastest adopters of EV technology. Despite the premium it charges, Tesla enjoys a particular following in the EV market in China. However, to win over customers, Tesla has had to lower their prices through discounts, thus getting rid of the premium that people paid.

Also read: Tesla wreaks havoc in China’s EV market with new price war, gives 50% discount on all cars

Moreover, Musk’s recent interviews and tweets seem to suggest that he plans on expanding SpaceX into China. Musk has been very vocal about his praise of China’s space programme and has made it clear that he believes the US has no idea just how capable the Chinese space programme is.

There are several other businesses that he may be trying to either establish, propagate, or even save in China. The Chinese military has had an issue with Starlink for some time, so there’s a good possibility that he might have to face some questions over that as well.

How all of this endangers Twitter
Given the position of the American government as well as the sentiment of most Americans towards China and the CCP, it is quite possible for China to tighten the screw around Musk.

Yes, Musk is surrounded by niceties during his visit to China, with people conferring him with the title ‘Brother Ma.’ But it does not take a political analyst to realise that all of this may be superficial, at least as far as the Chinese state is concerned.

Also read: Elon Musk greeted with 16-course lavish meal, hailed as ‘Brother Ma’ during China trip

With China trying to influence the guidelines and regulations that dictate how social media, AI, web3 and tech industries are run all over the world, albeit to no major avail, Musk presents himself as a major pressure point, a lynchpin of sorts.

Musk, who is a prolific tweeter, must be itching to tweet something out, especially if he has some great news about Tesla. However, given Twitter’s past with China, he wouldn’t want to risk upsetting the CCP in any way.

Even if we consider the best of scenarios, with the kind of rhetoric that we have about China on Twitter, especially from countries that are in some sort of a dispute with the country, it would be safe to assume that China would want such content and rhetoric repressed.

Moreover, it would want to suppress any dissidents that it may have within its own borders. From muzzling international reporters writing on China to squashing out dissenters for using “Western” media, we know what China will be up to.

And, if history is anything to go by, we can all make an educated guess about where will Elon Musk “the free speech absolutist” will stand.

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