The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reviewing Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk’s $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,37,465 crore) takeover of Twitter, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing an individual accustomed to the deal.

The FTC declined to remark, whereas Musk couldn’t be reached for remark.

The company will determine within the subsequent month whether or not it’ll do an in-depth antitrust probe of the proposed transaction, the particular person advised Bloomberg. Such a probe would delay the deal’s closing by months.

Antitrust specialists have mentioned there’s little probability the company will discover any proof that Musk’s buy of Twitter is unlawful beneath antitrust legislation.

The FTC is already investigating Musk’s preliminary buy of a 9 % stake in Twitter, probing whether or not he complied with an antitrust reporting requirement when he acquired the shares in early April.

One critic of the deal has been Open Markets Institute, which mentioned that it must be stopped to keep away from giving an already highly effective man “direct control over one of the world’s most important platforms for public communications and debate.” It additionally cited Musk’s possession of the satellite tv for pc communications firm Starlink as a priority.

The deal has the help of Republicans, who hope conservatives banned from the location, like former President Donald Trump, can be allowed to return.

While Musk has tweeted about free speech, when he discusses plans for Twitter he focuses extra on serving to revenues by getting extra folks to make use of it or chopping such bills as government pay. He has mentioned nothing publicly about permitting banned former customers to return.

© Thomson Reuters 2022