How Elon Musk's empire has made him a problem for the Biden administration

Elon Musk's unilateral decision-making, which more often than not is opposite to the official stance of the US, has caused a headache for the Biden government, and it is difficult to shrug off

The Biden administration is worried about the second richest person on the planet, Elon Musk. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Binance founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, and Qatar's sovereign wealth fund helped finance Musk's $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, a report by Bloomberg said.

Biden's government is reportedly sceptical of his dependence on financing from West Asia for the deal may leave him vulnerable to foreign manipulation.

In response, some administrators in the Joe Biden government are mulling over subjecting the deal to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US. This interagency panel can block corporate transactions that involve foreigners over security concerns.

Since the takeover of Twitter last year, the Bloomberg report added, the behaviour of the "chief twit" has caused unease in the US government. Musk has laid off thousands of Twitter employees and has reportedly sacked its entire communications team. There is no clarity on how anyone can get in touch with the company.

Moreover, the platform also seems to have reduced content moderation. It now has more fake accounts and misinformation.

Not only West Asia but Musk is heavily dependent upon China as well. Tesla's factory in Shanghai accounted for over half of its global production last year. Musk even proposed a "reunification scheme" for Taiwan and China. It was publicly applauded by the Chinese government but is opposite to the official stance of the US government.

Musk has also unilaterally decided to provide Ukraine with the Starlink service. According to the report, this is "a presidential-like power atypical for a US defence contractor". He also proposed a Russia-friendly plan to end the war.

He said that Kyiv must permanently surrender Crimea, abandon its ambition to join NATO and agree to conduct UN-supervised elections in areas occupied by Russia. This is at odds with the US government's stance on supporting Ukraine.

On Musk's plan, the "US intelligence officials were aghast," the report said.

But why cannot the Biden administration take action against Musk?

According to the report, the problem for the Biden administration is "interdependence". The ambitions of Musk's companies align with key elements of the Biden government's agenda. This includes pushing for more use of green energy and increasing the number of e-vehicles on the road.

"Some administration officials have speculated that the government may someday need to break up Musk's empire as it did John D Rockefeller's more than a century ago," the report said.

What the Biden government does to address the challenges Musk's growing empire poses to their country remains to be seen.