Elon Musk is under renewed pressure from the US and EU over his ownership of Twitter, as regulators clamp down on the billionaire’s push to transform the social network into a freewheeling haven of free speech.
The European Commission yesterday threatened Musk with a ban unless Twitter abided by strict content moderation rules, while US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen indicated that Washington was reviewing his purchase of the social network.
The warning from Brussels came in a video call between Musk and Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner in charge of implementing the bloc’s digital rules, according to people with knowledge of the conversation.
Breton told Musk that Twitter must adhere to a checklist of rules, including ditching an “arbitrary” approach to reinstating banned users, pursuing disinformation “aggressively” and agreeing to an “extensive independent audit” of the platform by next year.
In the US, authorities’ scrutiny of Twitter appears to be focused on foreign ownership of the social media platform. In comments at a New York Times conference, Yellen mentioned the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US when asked about Twitter, saying it looked at transactions involving “foreign investment . . . to see if they create national security risk”.
Securities filings show Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia rolled over 35mn shares, or 3.5 per cent of the total shares of the public Twitter, into the new private company as part of Musk’s $44bn buyout.
Meanwhile, there was better news for Musk over his dispute with Apple. The billionaire said he had “resolved the misunderstanding” with the iPhone maker after a conversation with chief executive Tim Cook and a visit to the company’s “beautiful” Cupertino headquarters.
Five more stories in the news
1. China’s Covid tsar says fight against virus entering ‘new stage’ Sun Chunlan, China’s top zero-Covid enforcer, said yesterday the fight against the virus had entered a “new stage”, bolstering expectations that Beijing was easing its anti-pandemic approach just days after a wave of unrest. EU council president Charles Michel and China’s president Xi Jinping discussed “the response of societies” to coronavirus at a meeting in Beijing today.
2. Sam Bankman-Fried says he ‘never tried to commit fraud’ at FTX The founder of the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX said he “never tried to commit fraud” but admitted he made “a lot of mistakes”. He denied “knowingly” commingling customer funds with those held by Alameda Research, his proprietary trading group, in his first big interview since the collapse of his $32bn cryptocurrency empire.
3. Trump tax returns made accessible to Democratic-led panel The US Treasury has made Donald Trump’s tax returns available to the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee. The move follows a decision by the Supreme Court last week to allow lawmakers access to six years of the former president’s tax returns before Republicans take control of the House of Representatives and its committees in January.
4. US House passes bill to halt rail strike threat The US House of Representatives has approved a bill to enforce a tentative deal between rail companies and worker unions in an effort to avert a potentially crippling strike. The Senate will no take up the legislation, which if approved would stop about 115,000 workers from walking off the job as early as December 9.
5. Mexico bill threatens independence of electoral oversight, warns official José Woldenberg, who oversaw the 2000 election that ended 71 years of one-party rule in Mexico, said reforms being debated this week in congress would weaken the National Electoral Institute by restoring oversight of elections to the government — as occurred in Mexico during decades of rigged ballots. The INE organises elections and monitors political activity in Mexico. Observers say it was instrumental in the country’s democratic transition and is regarded as one of its most trusted institutions.
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The day ahead
Economic data The commerce department releases the core personal consumption expenditures index, which measures how much consumers are paying for goods and services while stripping out volatile food and energy and is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric. Yesterday Jay Powell, chair of the US central bank, indicated the Fed might begin “moderating” the pace of interest rate increases at this month’s meeting.
Outlook for markets Those comments from Powell helped lift European stocks and are helping US futures contracts to rise. The regional Stoxx Europe 600, which ended November with a 6 per cent gain, is up nearly 1 per cent today. The S&P 500 closed 3.1 per cent higher yesterday, taking its gains last month to 5.4 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite index added 4.4 per cent on the day. Emerging markets had their best month since 1998.
Earnings The bargain retailer Dollar General is expected to post an earnings increase for its latest quarter as cash-strapped consumers seek lower prices for everyday items such as groceries and toilet paper as elevated prices constrain their budgets. Also reporting earnings are grocer Kroger, cosmetics retailer Ulta, and work management software group Asana.
Macron and Biden meeting The US and French presidents will dine on lobster, caviar and an Oregon cheese at a traditional White House state dinner this evening while listening to Grammy-winner Jon Batiste. Talks between the leaders are likely to focus on the war in Ukraine and its impact on European energy markets. Macron has become a key ally for the White House in Europe after the UK’s exit from the EU and Germany’s turn inwards since Angela Merkel’s departure from politics.
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What else we’re reading
The FT’s 25 most influential women of 2022 Abigail E Disney, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marina Silva and Christiane Amanpour contribute to a feature highlighting the women who made their mark in 2022, exploring their achievements across cultures, industries and artistries. “It is a celebration,” writes Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf, and “also a way of interrogating the ways in which power and influence are changing”.
The deflating of the great cash cushion Economists have been forecasting contraction for the US economy since at least April, shortly after the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates. Credit the cash cushion American consumers and corporations built during the pandemic. But that will eventually disappear, and then the economy will nosedive, writes Megan Greene, global chief economist at Kroll.
Brexit has had a ‘substantially negative’ impact on UK economy Almost two years after Britain left the EU, economists have reached a consensus: Brexit has significantly worsened the country’s economic performance. But so far, ministers have mostly rejected the evidence.
Taking on China as south Asia’s favourite lender As China’s Belt and Road Initiative has proliferated across south Asia, India has also increased its infrastructure lending in the region. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration lags far behind Beijing in its overseas lending, New Delhi has stepped up its efforts, providing tens of billions of dollars in credit to neighbouring countries.
Travel
As big resorts grow more crowded, demand for British Columbia’s backcountry huts is on the rise.
Source: Economy - ft.com
