Musk could worsen misinformation on Twitter: Bill Gates

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Microsoft co-founder and controversial billionaire Bill Gates said Wednesday he believed fellow billionaire Elon Musk acquiring Twitter could worsen the situation of misinformation on the social media platform.

"He could make it worse. That is not his track record," Gates said at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit.

"We should have an open mind and never underestimate Elon. What's his goal when he talks about openness? How does he feel about something that says vaccines killed people or that Bill Gates is tracking people?"

This comes in light of a wave of hatred toward the billionaire as he campaigned for vaccines during the Covid-19 vaccines, raising concerns and questions over privacy.

"Is that one of the things you think should be spread? So, it's still it's not totally clear what he's going to do," Gates added.

Various medical and other experts have been struggling in the face of censorship on Twitter and other platforms due to arguing during and after the Covid-19 pandemic that the vaccines may not be as effective as they have been promoted to be, also raising questions about his motivation and role in earning extraordinary profits in the process.

"I do not think that shorting Tesla is an indication of your seriousness about climate change," Gates stressed. However, he did commend Tesla's role in battling climate change. "I have nothing but positive things to say about Elon. If he makes Twitter worse, I will speak out about that."

Gates also stressed that he did not know what was behind Musk's decision to acquire Twitter, underlining his belief that social media platforms should play a role in preventing the spread of misinformation.

Twitter had agreed last week to be acquired for some $44 billion by Elon Musk, just weeks after the tech giant implemented a policy to prevent a hostile takeover by the billionaire.

The move taken by Twitter follows an offer filed by Musk to purchase 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share, putting the company's value at $44 billion.

When Musk acquires Twitter, it is unlikely that its current CEO, Parag Agrawal, will remain in his position, as the billionaire had previously criticized the company's policies and its current management. However, since Musk is the head of various companies, it is unlikely that he will personally run the platform.

He claimed that he wanted to make Twitter "better than ever" by adding new features to the platform, such as making the algorithms open source to boost trust in the company, eliminating spam bots, and authenticating all human users of the platform, a step that is widely considered as a major violation of privacy.