Bill Gates unsure of Elon Musk's motives, says Tesla boss 'could make Twitter worse'
Bill Gates's advice to Elon Musk? None. Philanthropist says Tesla boss 'could make Twitter worse'.
By ET Online | Updated:
Agencies
Gates was asked if he has any advice for Musk on what he should do next as he buys Twitter, to which the philanthropist said that it is pretty tough for the platform to work against misinformation.
Billionaire Bill Gates has raised concerns over SpaceX boss Elon Musk buying Twitter Inc and said that the 50-year-old could actually "make it worse".
Gates questioned how Musk would prevent the spread of misinformation regarding Covid vaccines on the micro-blogging platform as the Tesla boss advocates "free speech".
"He could actually make it worse," Bill Gates said at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Summit on Wednesday.
Gates was asked if he has any advice for Musk on what he should do next as he buys Twitter, to which the philanthropist said that it is pretty tough for the platform to work against managing the anti-Covid vaccine talks on the micro-blogging site.
"What's his goal where he talks about the openness... how does he feel about something that says vaccines kill people or that Bill Gates is tracking people," the 66-year-old said, adding that there's a leadership problem.
"When you don't have the trusted leaders, you know, speaking out about vaccines, it's pretty hard for the platform to work against that. So I think we have a leadership problem and we have a platform problem," the billionaire added.
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Musk has been locking horns with Gates after he accused him of shorting Tesla's stock. In a tweet, Musk had said that the co-founder of Microsoft approached the SpaceX chief to discuss philanthropy on climate change.
The SpaceX boss had asked whether Gates had a half-billion-dollar short position on Tesla Inc.
“Yeah, but I didn’t leak it to NYT. They must have got it through friends of friends … I heard from multiple people at TED that Gates still had half billion short against Tesla, which is why I asked him, so it’s not exactly top secret,” read Musk’s response to the Twitter user who had shared a screenshot of chat between Gates and the Tesla chief. Responding to the tweet, Gates said "I don't think either one's short or long Tesla, it is a statement about your seriousness about climate change. I am putting billions of dollars into climate change innovation. I applaud Tesla's role in helping with climate change."
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In early 2021, several reports about a strife between Musk and Gates started making the rounds. The SpaceX boss had claimed that Bill Gates has been betting Tesla on the stock market.
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