Big companies and billionaires tend to avoid political controversy. If they use their power, they prefer to do so from the shadows.
Elon Musk is different. In recent Sundays, he supported Donald Trump and had conversations with him on Xu, the social network he owns. Musk has also engaged in a bitter public spat with Brazil's Supreme Court, which banned Network X last Sunday. He recently claimed that civil war was imminent in Britain and responded to the arrest of Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, by posting: "POV: 2030 is in Europe and you will be executed because you liked a mime."
Ownership of the X Network provided Musk with a huge megaphone to spread his views. However, focusing on his social network obscures the true extent and source of his geopolitical power.
It is control over SpaceX, Starlink and “Tesla” that has enabled Musk to play a key role in the war in Ukraine and in the growing rivalry between the United States and China; as well as in the war in Gaza.
In these conflicts, Musk's role is harder to define than in the Western culture wars. His unpredictable interventions - combined with enormous technological and financial power - make him an unguided geopolitical missile, whose whims can reshape world events.
When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, one of the first goals was to disable Internet access. By giving Ukraine access to Starlink, its satellite Internet network, Mask allowed the country's armed forces to continue fighting at a critical time.
Later in the conflict, however, Musk decided to limit Ukraine's access to Starlink to hinder any efforts to attack Russian troops in Crimea. Musk cited the risk of a third world war as the reason. That action - along with his promotion of a peace plan that heeded some Russian demands - contributed to a decline in Musk's popularity in Kiev. However, his view of the risk of a third world war was not very different from the views of the Biden administration.
On the other hand, Musk and the US government have completely different views when it comes to China. The opening of the large "Tesla" factory in Shanghai in 2019 was seen by Washington as a major setback for the American goal of staying ahead of China in key technologies of the future. China is now the leading producer of electric vehicles in the world, and US officials believe that Chinese manufacturers have learned from, and sometimes stolen from, Tesla.
The Biden administration is trying to persuade leading US technology companies to diversify away from China and was encouraged when Musk planned to visit India earlier this year, with the intention of opening a Tesla factory there as well. However, at the last minute, Musk canceled and went to Beijing instead. In China, he announced the intensification of Tesla's relations with that country. The Shanghai plant now produces more than half of Tesla cars globally.
US officials have noted that Musk's advocacy of free speech, and willingness to offend world leaders, does not extend to China. X has long been banned in China, but Musk has great respect for Xi Jinping, China's dictatorial leader.
Another foreign leader who seems to have figured out how Musk works is Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu. Musk has been accused of promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Xu. However, his proposal to make Starlink available to humanitarian organizations in Gaza alarmed the Israeli government, which claimed it would help Hamas. After visiting Israel last year, Musk agreed that Starlink would operate in Gaza only with Israel's approval.
Many of Musk's activities make the Biden administration uncomfortable. However, his companies have technological capabilities that even the US government does not have. In order for Ukraine to remain "online", when Musk hesitated, the Pentagon had to sign a contract with Starlink. When NASA wants to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station, SpaceX makes it possible.
If Musk often talks and acts as if he is more powerful than any government, it may be because in some respects that is true.
However, governments retain one key power that still eludes The Mask; the ability to enact and enforce the law. The conflict between Brazil and X, and the arrest of Durov in France, are signals that the era of impunity on social networks is coming to an end in the democratic world. (In the authoritarian world it never even existed.)
Social media companies are increasingly likely to be regulated like traditional media companies, with costly consequences. Last year, Fox News had to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787,5 million to settle defamation charges stemming from Fox's coverage of conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.
The X Network is full of conspiracy theories, some of which are promoted by Mask himself. Despite his wealth and undoubted genius as an engineer and entrepreneur, Musk will still be subject to the laws of the countries in which he does business.
This increasingly clear realization may explain his angry outbursts against Brazil, Britain, the EU and the US state of California, and anyone else who dares stand in his way.
Network X is not the source of Mask's power. But it could mark the point where his power is limited.
The text is taken from "Financial Times"
Translation: NB
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