Billionaire says Tesla chief “could make it worse” by failing to censor “misinformation” on Twitter after takeover
Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and co-founder is worried about potential problems when Elon Musk, a fellow billionaire, completes his purchase of Twitter. Elon Musk believes that misinformation could be more common if he fails to adequately police speech on Twitter.
“He actually could make it worse,”In a Wall Street Journal interview, Gates spoke of Musk Wednesday. Musk is a “very good friend”, he said. “mind-blowing”Successfully built successful businesses at Tesla and SpaceX through being bolder and more innovative than the competition “really showing them up.”
“I kind of doubt that will happen this time, but we should have an open mind and never underestimate Elon,” Gates said. “What’s his goal? He talks openly about his goal. How does he react to vaccines killing people, or Bill Gates tracking them? Does he believe that this is something that should be shared? So it’s still… It’s not totally clear what he’s going to do.”
Gates stated that the Covid-19 epidemic was a false comment and that both governments as well as social media companies did not fully combat it. “When you don’t have the trusted leaders speaking out about vaccines, it’s pretty hard for the platforms to work against that,”He said. “So I think we have a leadership problem, and we have a platform problem.”
Musk agreed to acquire Twitter for $44 billion last week. Musk has pledged to reinstate freedom of speech on the platform. This raised concerns from Silicon Valley to the White House about whether Twitter would censor any comments that the establishment views. “misinformation.” President Joe Biden’s administration announced plans to create a Disinformation Governance Board just two days after Twitter’s directors agreed to accept Musk’s offer.
But, it is often up to the individual who is speaking that the truth is being told. For instance, some commentary that was censored early in the pandemic – such as a theory that the virus originated in a Chinese lab – became mainstream in later months. Nina Jankowicz (the woman selected to lead the Disinformation Governance Board) has also been known for spreading false conspiracy theories. For example, she dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop scam as an “accident”. “Russian influence op.”
Musk claims that “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy.”He laughed at those who had criticized him on Twitter and said, “The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all.”
After Gates had suggested to NBC News that there might be laws, Gates gave the Wall Street Journal an interview. “that strike a better balance of free speech versus conspiracy theories confusing people.”His Wednesday statement was that he thought he knew what he meant. “human judgment”You would have enough strength to stop absurdly false speech from spreading.
“So far, at least under the stress of the pandemic, that hasn’t stopped the crazy stuff from getting out and kind of resonating with people,” Gates said.
The vaccine and climate-change activist claimed that he’s reserving judgment on whether Musk will make Twitter better or worse. “The fact that he didn’t buy Twitter to make money means that if there’s something great that can be done, if all you need is money and hiring great engineers, he’s probably as good a person as any.”
Does he have the right goals? Is it in line with his idea of less extremist falsehoods being spread so rapidly — bizarre conspiracy theories? Is he able to share this goal?
Days before reaching his deal with Twitter, Musk accused Gates of short-selling Tesla stock – essentially betting on shares of the electric vehicle maker to fall. After hearing Gates’ claim that he was shorting Tesla stock, Musk refused to meet with Gates for climate-changephilanthropy. “Sorry, I cannot take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change.”
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Elon Musk clarifies the free-speech stance
Gates responded to a question on Wednesday asking if he has ever shorted Tesla shares. “It’s possible that the stock went down and whoever shorted the stock made money, I don’t know. I don’t think whether one is short or long Tesla is a statement about your seriousness about climate change.”
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