Will Twitter's New Owner Elon Musk Have the World in the Palm of His Hand?

With a fortune of $250 billion, "mad engineer" Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has completed his takeover of Twitter for $44 billion (£38.1 billion). Musk tweeted that "the bird is freed" and followed it up with a tweet wishing "let the good times roll". As soon as he bought the company, he immediately parted ways with four of Twitter's top executives (including its CEO Parag Agrawal). This move, which can be characterized as a complete break from the past, also showed that he would reorganize Twitter according to his own philosophy. He declared himself the head of Twitter headquarters as "Chief Twit". The number of followers of Elon Musk, whose number of followers increased rapidly, was 112,172,001 at the time of writing this article, far above the population of Turkey. This enormous number also means that his influence capacity has increased and he is able to communicate with a large community.

Who is Elon Musk?

Musk was born in South Africa on June 28, 1971. His mother is Canadian and his father is South African. He is both a Canadian and US citizen. He is the founder of SpaceX and co-founder of Tesla Motors and PayPal (originally X.com). Musk, who also bought Twitter at the end of this month, serves as chairman and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors. He is known as the richest person in the world, even too rich to buy a house for himself.

Musk moved to California's Silicon Valley to pursue a PhD in Applied Physics and Materials Science, but left school before completing it, deciding to focus on three areas that would shape the future of humanity (and himself): the internet, clean energy and space.

Having made his fortune through his electric car company Tesla and his space exploration company Space X, Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter is not seen as particularly significant in terms of international relations. However, Musk's outspoken statements and tweets on unrelated issues, often using Twitter as a platform, from geopolitical issues such as the war in Ukraine to the rescue of students trapped in a cave in Thailand, have attracted much more attention. These outbursts make it imperative for the richest man in the world to get involved in some of the world's most burning conflicts, and for his words to be taken into account.

Is Elon Musk Really a Political Figure?

In recent years, Musk has emerged as a new and chaotic actor on the global political scene. While many billionaire executives like to tweet about world affairs, none come close to Mr. Musk's influence and ability to create trouble. Sometimes he dives right into the thick of things, and because of his influence, he has sparked a lot of controversy in the process. 

In 2019, Elon Musk met with then Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing. Since then, Musk has been criticized for his statements regarding China's unification and/or annexation policies with Taiwan, mostly in favor of Beijing. In a newspaper interview, for example, he suggested that China could be appeased if it was given partial control of Taiwan. Taipei was quick to demand that Musk retract this unwarranted suggestion.

He also raised eyebrows when he proposed a peace plan for Russia and Ukraine that angered Ukrainian authorities. I will elaborate on this in a moment.

Meanwhile, protests against Amini's suspicious death, which began on September 16th in a way that shook the Mullah Regime, spread across Iran. In response, the Mullah Regime blocked internet access in some areas in an attempt to break the communication mechanism between demonstrators. At first, Musk was said to have come to the rescue of the protesters. "I'm activating Starlink," Musk said in a Twitter message after the US government lifted some sanctions restricting American tech companies from operating in Iran so they could help the protesters. Starlink offered the potential to circumvent the Iranian government's blockade of land-based internet connections, which has left Iranians in many cities offline. However, since there is no Starlink infrastructure in Iran yet, Musk's tweet is seen as an empty tweet 'fooling the public'.

Elon Musk is also interested in Turkey. In 2017, he visited Turkey and had a face-to-face meeting with President Erdoğan. In 2021, he met with Erdogan over video conference. Erdogan, who apparently appreciated Elon Musk enough to use the expressions 'my dear friend' in his statement after the meeting, announced that they discussed issues regarding cooperation in different fields, especially space technologies.

Starlink's Power Becomes Elon Musk's Power

While the bulk of Musk's fortune comes from his shares in electric car company Tesla, his influence is largely derived from SpaceX, the rocket company that operates the Starlink satellite network. Founded in June 2002, SpaceX today produces the world's most advanced rockets and has become unrivaled in the space race. Musk succeeded in developing the first rockets that could land vertically back on the earth's surface, dramatically reducing the cost of sending materials and people into space. 

Thanks to SpaceX, Musk also launched his own satellite internet service and continues to put thousands of satellites into orbit. The service provided by this internet company, called Starlink, can already be used anywhere in the world with infrastructure.

Starlink is known for its ability to beam internet service to conflict zones and geopolitical hotspots. In this respect, Starlink, which provided uninterrupted internet service during the Russian-Ukrainian War that started on February 24, 2022, is seen as an important force multiplier of the Ukrainian army.

When Starlink provided internet access in Ukraine and financed at least part of the hardware and service, it equipped both civilians and soldiers with a crucial communication tool during the ongoing conflict with Russia. Musk won the praise of Ukrainians. But then his messages about the war became problematic. Possibly influenced by indirect pressure from Russia, Musk tweeted this month that Ukraine would not be able to finance the use of Starlink "indefinitely". Elon Musk, who has won the hearts and minds of all Ukrainians, including the Ukrainian leadership, has almost been characterized as a traitor who switched sides in the war.

In mid-September, at a gathering of American business and political leaders, including Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Al Gore and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford, Musk appeared to side with the Kremlin in a lunchtime speech in which he proposed a peace plan for the war in Ukraine that would allow Russia to annex Ukrainian territory.

With these remarks, Musk made an outrageous outburst against American policy, drawing the ire of many. Nevertheless, he announced this proposal on Twitter 10 days after the event. While the Kremlin openly supported the idea, Kiev reacted immediately. Zelensky, however, deliberately refrained from directly targeting Musk. Zelensky's hands are tied by the fact that Starlink terminals are a crucial means of communication for the Ukrainian military. In this context, it is understood that Musk is recognized as a supranational figure with a global influence.

Now this influence will undoubtedly increase even more after Twitter. Despite everything, Elon Musk, who defines himself as an absolute defender of freedom of expression, is expected to control Twitter's content with a light touch.

How Free Is Free Speech Elon Musk Himself?

Elon Musk's increasing dependence on China is particularly frightening. Musk, who has made statements winking at China on Taiwan, is said to be unable to get out of China's influence as long as Tesla is on the table. This raises the question of how much realistic freedom of expression can a person have when it comes to his or her commercial interests, even if that person is the richest in the world?

In today's world, technology is at the center of geopolitics and even wars. Chief Twitter Elon Musk is now right in the center of this center in terms of the Ukrainian army (thus affecting the Russian army in terms of failure).

For example, in mid-September, as the Ukrainian Army advanced into the southern regions previously occupied by Russia, it was claimed that access to Starlink was cut off in some areas close to the front lines in this region, and that internet use was geographically restricted by Starlink. This interruption took place right after Elon Musk's outburst in favor of Russia, which I mentioned above. 

Starlink provides a commercial service that sometimes provides life-saving technologies to its customers. On the other hand, it is highly dependent on the company's own geopolitical interests and is therefore seen as an unreliable network for countries with national security concerns. Therefore, there are growing demands for "starlink" and/or Elon Musk to stay out of regional conflicts and provide "neutral, independent" services. Elon Musk needs to make a decision and clarify his stance on this issue, but he continues to tweet zigzagging tweets that tend to take 'sides'.

The situation in China is very complicated for Tesla, for Elon Musk. There is a complex interdependence between Xi and Musk. Tensions between China and Taiwan pose a great risk to Elon Musk's empire. Tesla has a factory in Shanghai that produces 50 percent of new cars. Tesla's dependence on China is seen as important enough to shape Musk's political "views".

Indeed, Musk confirmed that he was under pressure from Beijing, telling the Financial Times in October that he had made it clear that the Chinese government did not approve of him providing Starlink internet service in Ukraine. He also said that Beijing had asked for assurances that Starlink would not be allowed in China. He then suggested a way to ease China-Taiwan tensions: Handing over some control of Taiwan to China.

Conclusion

Elon Musk is more than just a crazy billionaire, he is a good engineer. He is an entrepreneur who can bring his dreams to life. Nowadays, his attempts to combine his technical dreams with diplomacy and the global impact of his countless tweets cause his name to come up frequently. His latest investment, Twitter, has given Elon Musk this influence as an almost unlimited power in the virtual world. Let's see what Musk can change in international relations and international politics. To what extent can he contribute to the establishment and preservation of peace? What about wars...

References:

Cade Metz, Adam Satariano and Chang Che, How Elon Musk Became a Geopolitical Chaos Agent, The New York Times, Oct. 28, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/technology/elon-musk-geopolitics-china-ukraine.html

Pascale Davies, Who is Elon Musk? Euronews, October 28, 2022. https://tr.euronews.com/2022/10/28/elon-musk-kimdir