China’s international ministry mentioned on Tuesday there was no foundation to hypothesis that Beijing may attempt to use leverage over electrical automobile maker Tesla with a purpose to affect content material on US social media website Twitter.

Chinese international ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin was responding to a query throughout a daily day by day briefing on Tuesday, after Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk struck a deal on Monday to purchase Twitter. Roughly half the vehicles Tesla bought globally final yr had been made at its plant in Shanghai.

Meanwhile, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Monday requested in a submit on Twitter if Elon Musk’s $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,36,400 crore) money deal to purchase Twitter provides China “a bit of leverage over the town square”.

Twitter is blocked in China, the place Musk, the world’s richest individual, has key enterprise pursuits. Musk, who calls himself a free speech absolutist and has criticised Twitter’s content material moderation coverage, reached a deal on Monday to purchase the social media platform.

Political activists count on that Musk’s possession of Twitter will imply much less moderation and reinstatement of banned people together with former US President Donald Trump.

There are additionally questions on what the deal will imply for Twitter’s China content material coverage as Musk’s Tesla depends closely on China for manufacturing and automobile gross sales.

“Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?” Bezos tweeted late on Monday.

“My own answer to this question is probably not. The more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship at Twitter,” he later tweeted.

Musk mentioned in a tweet on Monday: “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.”

© Thomson Reuters 2022