Bill Gates may be quietly boycotting Elon Musk’s Twitter

Did Bill Gates Quit Twitter?

Or co-founder of Microsoft (MSFTMore)- Get Free Report Just boycott the platform now owned by Elon Musk?

Until recently, philanthropists were avid users of social networks, regularly publishing their humanitarian causes, especially the fight against malaria and polio.

For example, Gates said on October 15, “By working together and funding initiatives like the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we can implement #EndPolio and build a healthier world.” Tweeted.

This post comes as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledges an additional $1.2 billion to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. This new fund will help redouble and accelerate efforts to combat the disease, which has re-emerged in recent months in areas where it was thought to have disappeared. A resurgence would put billions of dollars of investment at risk for decades.

No Gates tweets since Nov. 19

He also frequently uses Twitter to spotlight innovations that can improve the health of people around the world. His last tweet, dating from Nov. 19, is about Smart his toilet.

“To solve the global hygiene crisis, we need smarter toilets that don’t rely on sewage systems and stop the spread of disease. #WorldToiletDay,” the billionaire said in a Gates Foundation blog post that day. I posted with the link. About the bathroom refurbishment.

Since that tweet, Gates has not appeared on Twitter. This is surprising given his activity on the platform. Until November 19th, the philanthropist was tweeting almost every day, sometimes several times a day.

Billionaire accounts are still visible. That is, he has not been suspended by the company.

TheStreet reached out to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to ask what the billionaire’s silence means.

But Gates’ silence on Twitter coincides with the network’s decision to remove safeguards purchased by Musk on Oct. 27 to limit the spread of misinformation related to the covid-19 pandemic. .

“Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter will no longer be enforcing its covid-19 misleading information policy,” the company said. Said on its transparency page.

The announcement suggests that accounts spreading false information about the pandemic will not be punished.

The microblogging website does not explain why it made a major U-turn.

“Since we introduced covid-19 guidance last year, as of September 2022, we have globally challenged 11.72 million accounts, suspended 11,230 accounts and removed over 97,674 content. ” said the company.

Gates had concerns about Musk’s Twitter

was feud It’s been a brief bet between Gates and Musk since May after Musk learned Gates was betting on a decline in Tesla’s stock price.

Gates at the time express concern On the changes Musk will make to Twitter after he takes ownership.

“Do you have any advice on what Elon Musk should do about buying Twitter?” Gates was asked at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Summit on May 4.

“He could actually make things worse,” Gates replied. “It’s not his track record. I mean, his track record at Tesla and SpaceX is pretty shocking at putting together an amazing team of engineers, and… how not to dare people who worked in those fields.” Recruit and really show them up.

“I don’t think it will happen this time, but we must keep an open mind and never underestimate Elon.”

Gates was concerned about the potential for disinformation and misinformation to spread on the platform. Since signing the Twitter deal, Musk has reactivated all of his accounts, including former President Donald Trump’s, which had been suspended for violating the platform’s rules, in the name of free speech.

“You know, what is his goal when he talks about openness? And how does he feel about vaccines killing people and Bill Gates tracking people? Is that one of the things he thinks he should promote? It’s still not entirely clear what he’s going to do,” Gates said in May.

“Is his goal for what it ends up being? Does it match this idea that less extreme falsehoods spread very quickly? [and] Weird conspiracy theory? Does he share that goal?” Gates asked.

Since the start of the covid-19 pandemic, millions of conspiratorial messages have spread across the internet, fueling misinformation about the coronavirus, its origins, and the motivations of those fighting it.

Gates has pledged at least $1.75 billion to the global response to the covid-19 pandemic in support of vaccine makers. The philanthropist then became the target of falsehoods and fantasies.

To some conspiracy theorists, Gates started the pandemic, planned to vaccinate the world’s population, and even orchestrated the health genocide and general reduction of the planet’s population.

One particularly ridiculous statement about Gates that continued to circulate on social media was that the billionaire intended to implant a vaccine against covid-19 in a 5G chip.

“I thought human judgment alone would do the trick. And so far, at least under the stress of the pandemic, the crazy stuff hasn’t stopped coming out and resonating with people. It’s a much simpler explanation, rather than saying that this person caused the pandemic, there’s something strange about biology…” Gates said.