US billionaire Bill Gates said on Wednesday that it is unclear whether the acquisition of Twitter by rival Elon Musk, through a $44 billion deal, will lead to positive change, saying that it may in fact exacerbate the application’s problems when It is about misinformation.
Gates, who recently suffered a barrage of taunts from Musk on Twitter after it was revealed he was selling Tesla shares, put his weight on the deal during a CEO Board summit hosted by the Wall Street Journal.
“He can actually make it worse,” Gates said. “That’s not his track record, his track record with Tesla and SpaceX is absolutely amazing by having a great team of engineers and really taking people who have worked in those areas and showing them.”
Elon Musk
Gates added: “I doubt this will happen this time, but we must have an open mind and not underestimate Elon .. What is his goal? He talks about freedom of expression, how does he feel about those who say ‘vaccines kill people’ or ‘Bill Gates’ People keep track of “Is this one of the things he thinks should be posted?”
Musk pledged to change the strict content moderation policies in place under Twitter’s current leadership to re-emphasize freedom of expression on the platform.
Critics of the Tesla CEO have pointed to his often confrontational Twitter presence as evidence that he will allow more offensive and harmful content to circulate.
Bill Gates
Gates previously expressed his “astonishment” about the conspiracy theories about him, which were circulated on social media during the Corona pandemic.
Musk and Gates were at odds with each other until last month.
A recent text exchange between tech billionaires revealed that Musk attacked Gates over a $500 million share sale in Tesla, and bet the stock would drop.
“Sorry, but I can’t take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a short-term view against Tesla, the company that is doing everything it can to solve climate change,” Musk wrote.
Later, Musk mocked Gates in a tweet comparing the image of the Microsoft co-founder to an emoji depicting a pregnant man.
When asked about the tweets, Gates downplayed the controversy and told the event host it “doesn’t bother him”.
“I don’t think whether one invests short or long in Tesla is a statement about being serious about climate change,” he added.
“I’m putting billions of dollars into climate change innovation,” he said. “I applaud Tesla’s role in helping tackle climate change,” Gates explained. “I have nothing but positive things to say about Elon. If it makes Twitter worse, well, I’ll talk about it, but I won’t assume that’s what’s going to happen.”