South Africa is exploring a regulatory workaround that would allow Elon Musk’s Starlink to operate in the country without complying with Black Economic Empowerment equity rules, Bloomberg reports. The plan aims to present Starlink’s services as rural infrastructure projects instead of direct ownership stakes and is modeled on strategies used by auto companies in 2019. The talks come ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s meeting with Trump. Musk, who was born in Pretoria, has accused South Africa of enforcing “openly racist ownership laws” that he says prevent Starlink from operating there because he is not Black. Trump has supported these claims, granting refugee status to White South Africans and echoing genocide allegations that a South African court dismissed as "clearly imagined."
