Dems Urge Probe Of Saudi, Chinese Money Backing The Ellisons’ Warner Bros Acquisition

from the information-warfare dept

Republicans spent three years suffering an embolism over Chinese influence over TikTok, but have suddenly gone mysteriously quiet now that $25 billion in Saudi, Chinese, and other foreign cash is helping to bankroll right wing billionaire Larry Ellison’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Brothers. They’re also suddenly quiet about Larry buying up huge sections of the media environment (TikTok, CNN, CBS, HBO, Warner, Paramount), despite previously pretending to care about media consolidation.

There’s an opportunity for Democrats to highlight the hypocrisy here, provided they’re competent enough to message their concerns in a way that resonates with the press, public, and social media (not historically the party’s strong suit).

In a letter to the FCC, seven Democrats urged the agency to launch an investigation into Saudi and Chinese backing of the deal in the hopes of bringing some additional press attention to journalist-murdering autocracies being tightly intertwined with U.S. media and journalism:

“The national security concerns are specific and serious. Tencent’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party is well-documented. Chinese law also requires domestic technology companies to cooperate with state intelligence services on demand. A Tencent stake in the parent company of CBS News and CNN, no matter how “passive” on paper, creates concrete avenues for potential foreign influence over the editorial independence of American broadcast journalism and content.”

Brendan Carr’s FCC will, of course, ignore the request. Brendan Carr spent years on cable TV hyperventilating about China’s distant proxy relationship with TikTok, but has since gone curiously silent despite China’s Tencent involvement in the deal.

Paramount is trying to avoid triggering CFIUS scrutiny of foreign influence by insisting that the three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds (Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) “have agreed to forgo any governance rights — including board representation — associated with their non-voting equity investments.”

We’ve noted how the U.S. right wing is trying to mirror Victor Orban’s assault on media in Hungary, which involved autocrat-friendly oligarchs buying up all the media companies while the government strangles independent truth-telling journalism just out of frame. Over long enough of a timeline, this trajectory routinely leads to first the arrest — and eventually murder — of journalists critical of party power.

Republicans are making obvious, steady progress in that goal so far, and will keep pushing until they run into opposition that consists of more than just feckless Democrat “concerns.” Democrats should be highlighting, at every opportunity, not just the potential soft power foreign influence over the deal, but the right wing’s unsubtle goal of widespread information warfare and control.

Even free of autocratic issues, the Warner Brothers Paramount deal is just generally terrible; the massive debt load is expected to trigger unprecedented layoffs across a Hollywood production industry that’s already reeling. The best chance for blocking the deal outright currently sits with a coalition of state attorneys general, though even they likely face a steep uphill climb without some significant political, press, and public support.

Filed Under: consolidation, hollywood, journalism, larry ellison, media, mergers, propaganda, saudi, television