Appearing on NBC’s Today program, Bill Gates was asked about online “misinformation” and what he thinks of Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.
The discussion about misinformation on the net began with host Savannah Guthrie saying: “When you look at how the US and the world have reacted to COVID-19, whether it’s masks or vaccines or Saturdays, closures, it’s become so political. Gates responded: “Yes, it’s unfortunate that we did not get credible voices from both sides talking about the usefulness of masks and vaccines so that it would not be a political issue at all.” Was the hallmark “of the plague.
Guthrie added – “President Biden said last July that misinformation on social media kills people. Do you agree?” She asked – Gates said: “Absolutely … it’s awful.”
The host then noted that Elon Musk had acquired Twitter, and asked if Gates feared the acquisition would lead to the dissemination of further misinformation on the platform.
“Well, you know, misinformation is undoubtedly a big issue that a lot of people like you are worried about. Elon Musk recently announced moves to acquire Twitter. I wonder if you are concerned about the spread of misinformation given some of his views on expanding what he calls freedom of expression on Twitter And what do you think of the purchase, “she said.
The founder of Microsoft gave the following response:
“Well, the digital realm has allowed, you know, some kind of interesting but wrong ideas that have spread very fast. And we need to produce innovation so that the digital realm will be more of a positive thing of bringing the truth out and people will see, hey, that’s a lie.”
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Gates answered a similar question about what Elon Musk can do with Twitter.
“How does he feel about something that says vaccines kill people or Bill Gates wants to track people? Not entirely clear, not clear what he’s going to do,” Gates told the Journal.
“If he’s making Twitter worse, I’ll talk about it,” Gates said later in the same interview.
“The way you make these platforms spread truth and not crazy stuff; requires real inventions,” Gates said.
“I do not have the solution to that. I hope a lot of brilliant people think about it, but it is a huge problem in terms of the legitimacy of the election or medical innovations.”