Bill Gates has warned that Elon Musk could make Twitter “worse” after the CEO of Tesla promised to buy the communications company for $ 44 billion.
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal CEO’s Conference on Wednesday, Gates said it was unclear how Musk would change Twitter if he took ownership while raising concerns about the dissemination of false information on social media.
The founder of Microsoft acknowledged that Musk’s record at other companies was astonishing, praising his time leading Tesla and SpaceX as “mind-blowing.” Gates said he believed Musk had done a good job of assembling a large team of engineers from those companies.
“I doubt that will happen in this case, but we must be open-minded and never look down on Elon,” he said.
The tech billionaire’s comments come after Musk accused him of shortening Tesla’s stock last month. Musk also sent a dirty joke about Gates to CNBC who decided not to print it. Gates said the insults did not bother him.
Gates, who has been replaced by Musk as the richest man in the world in recent years, went on to question what Musk’s goal is on Twitter and whether his campaign to promote free speech makes sense.
“How do you feel about something [on Twitter] that says’ vaccines kill people ‘or that’ Bill Gates is tracking people?” “Gates asked.
“What are his motives for this? Is that the case with the paranoid allusions of the critics of this process? Do you have that goal or not? ” Said Gates.
Musk’s representative did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Over the past few weeks, Musk has outlined a number of ways he can look to improve Twitter in addition to promoting free speech. For example, late Tuesday, he suggested he could start charging companies “less” money to use the stadium.
Fighting inaccurate information
False information about the vaccine spread like wildfire on social media during the Covid-19 violence, with some claiming that Gates was somehow using the principles of inserting 5G chips into people in order to track their location.
“That was unexpected and almost strange,” Gates said. “Now that I’m back in the world … people are coming up and shouting and protesting.”
He said it was “dangerous” when people “pulled out” an important tool used to save people’s lives and believed that those who owned social media had a role to play when it came to ensuring that the truth was shared effectively.
“If you do not have reliable leaders talking about vaccines, it is very difficult for the forum to work against that,” he admitted. “So I think we have a leadership problem and we have a platform problem.”
“The way you do those platforms that spread the truth and not crazy stuff, there is a real fiction needed there,” Gates said.
“It’s a big problem about the legitimacy of elections or new treatments … any kind of mixed behavior,” he added.
The fact that information on drug use can go faster and cheaper should be a blessing to humanity, says Gates, before calling the hydroxychloroquine saga “crazy.”
“I can’t explain that,” he said. “I don’t think digital is the cause of that drug overdose.”
Gates said he plans to establish a 3,000-person communications platform to help disseminate accurate vaccine information in the future. He emphasized that the “good news” needed to be conveyed to trusted people, such as political and racial leaders.