Saudi Arabia, Turkey react to Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover

Billionaire Elon Musk reached a deal to buy Twitter yesterday for $44 billion in cash. Much of Musk’s plans for the social media platform concern reforming Twitter’s content moderation policies, which have been criticized as restrictive of free speech.

The acquisition elicited a strong reaction in some Middle Eastern circles, principally in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

A lot of Saudi users were happy about Musk buying Twitter, according to a Saudi-based analyst. Jamal AlTamimi told Al-Monitor, “Saudis as a whole are very happy with the deal because they [believe] Twitter’s administration is against them and they think Musk will be more just.”

Meanwhile in Turkey, after the deal was reached, Turkish social media commentator Emir Cagdas Pekcetin told Yeni Safak that Musk has a “serious attitude toward a truthful news feed.”

“His positive ties with our president will ensure a cleaner social media news flow in our country,” he said, claiming that Musk will block accounts associated with Turkey’s outlawed Gulenist movement.