At the Wall Street Journal’s CEO summit on Wednesday, Gates asked Elon Musk, “How does he feel about something [on Twitter] that says ‘vaccines are killing people’ or ‘Bill Gates is chasing people?’”
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Bill Gates has warned that Elon Musk could make Twitter “worse” after Tesla’s CEO vowed to buy the social media company for $44 billion.
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO summit on Wednesday, Gates said it’s unclear how Musk will transform Twitter once he takes ownership, while also raising concerns about the spread of misinformation on social media platforms.
The Microsoft co-founder admitted that Musk’s track record at other companies is impressive and hailed his time at the helm of Tesla and SpaceX as “stunning”. Gates said he believes Musk has done a good job in assembling a great team of engineers at those companies.
“I doubt that will happen this time, but we should keep an open mind and never underestimate Elon,” he said.
The tech billionaire’s comments come after Musk accused him of shorting Tesla shares last month. Musk also tweeted a crude joke about Gates that CNBC refused to print. Gates said he didn’t mind the insults.
Gates, who has been replaced by Musk as the world’s richest person in recent years, went on to question what Musk’s goal is with Twitter and whether his quest to promote freedom of expression is reasonable.
“How does he feel about something [on Twitter] that says ‘vaccines are killing people’ or ‘Bill Gates is chasing people?’” Gates asked.
“What are its goals for what it ultimately is? Does this fit with the notion that less extreme untruths spread so quickly [and] weird conspiracy theories? Does he share that goal or not?” Gates said.
A Musk representative did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
In recent weeks, Musk has hinted at a number of ways he could improve Twitter beyond promoting free speech. For example, he suggested late Tuesday that he could charge companies a “small” fee to use the platform.
Combating Misinformation
Vaccine misinformation has spread like wildfire on social media during the Covid-19 pandemic, with some falsely claiming Gates somehow used vaccines to implant 5G chips in people so he could track their location.
“It’s so unexpected and almost bizarre,” Gates said. “Now that I’m back in the physical world… people come and scream and protest.”
He said it is “dangerous” for people to “breach” on the key tool being used to save lives, and he believes those who own social media platforms have a role to play when it comes to it is to ensure that the truth is spread effectively.
Musk’s plan to buy Twitter has worried policymakers around the world.
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“Unless you have the trusted leaders speaking out on vaccines, it’s quite difficult for the platform to take action,” he admitted. “So I think we have a leadership issue and we have a platform issue.”
“The way you get these platforms to spread the truth and not crazy stuff, that takes real invention,” Gates said.
“It’s a huge issue in terms of the legitimacy of elections or medical innovation… any kind of collective behavior,” he added.
The fact that information about drug efficacy can be disseminated quickly and cheaply should be a boon to humanity, Gates said, before calling the hydroxychloroquine saga “insane.”
“I can’t explain it,” he said. “I don’t think digitalization is responsible for this obsession with drugs that don’t work.”
Gates said he plans to set up a 3,000-person social media unit to spread accurate vaccine information in the future. He stressed that “good messages” needed to be carried by trusted figures in the community, such as political and ethnic leaders.