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Elon Musk has deepened his feud with fellow billionaire Bill Gates, tweeting in response to an article claiming that Gates is funding his critics.
Musk on Tuesday tweeted ‘sigh’ in response to a link to a Breitbart article claiming that Gates’ foundation donated ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ to numerous groups behind a campaign pushing advertisers to boycott Twitter if Musk takes over.
The article says the Gates Foundation donated to 11 of the 26 signatories of an open letter pushing the boycott, distributing the cash through the New Venture Fund and the Tides Foundation, which have been characterized as ‘dark money’ groups.
It follows an escalating feud between Musk and Gates, who recently criticized the Tesla CEO’s plan to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
Musk has also accused Gates of taking a large position betting against Tesla stock, and chided the Microsoft creator’s zaftig figure by comparing him to an emoji of a pregnant man.
Elon Musk has deepened his feud with fellow billionaire Bill Gates, tweeting in response to an article claiming that Gates is funding his critics
Gates said last month that while Musk has a good record as a businessman, he could make misinformation on Twitter worse if he completes his takeover as planned.
‘He actually could make it worse,’ Gates said. ‘That’s not his track record. His track record with Tesla and Space X is pretty mind-blowing at putting together a great team of engineers and taking people who work in those fields in a less bold way and really showing them up. I kind of doubt that’ll happen this time but we should have an open mind and never underestimate Elon.’
But Gates did question Musk’s intentions with the app.
The South African-born billion has said his purchase of Twitter is motivated primarily by a wish to restore the app as a place for the free exchange of ideas, and has repeatedly said he wants to move away from ‘censorship’ and err on the side of free speech.
Musk, who calls himself a free speech absolutist, has criticized Twitter’s moderation policies.
‘You know, what’s his goal?’ Gates asked. ‘When he talks about the openness, how does he feel about something such as “vaccines kill people” or that “Bill Gates is tracking people” is that one of the things he feels should be spread? So it’s not totally clear what he is going to do.’
‘Are his goals for what it ends up being, does it match this idea of less extreme falsehoods spreading so quickly, weird conspiracy theories, does he share that goal or not?’ Gates pondered.
Last month Musk dissed Gates’ gut on Twitter posting a photo of the Microsoft mogul alongside Apple’s controversial pregnant man emoji ‘in case you need to kill a boner’
Musk appeared for the first time in public since inking his $44 billion Twitter deal, walking the Met Gala red carpet with his mother, the model Maye Musk
Gates also refused to say whether or not he personally shorted Tesla ‘It’s possible the stock went down and whoever shorted the stock made money, I don’t know’
Gates also added that he has not taken Musk’s recent tweets about him personally.
Last month Musk dissed Gates’ gut on Twitter posting a photo of the Microsoft mogul alongside Apple’s controversial pregnant man emoji ‘in case you need to kill a boner.’
Gates also refused to say whether or not he personally shorted Tesla, saying that climate change was a focus of the Gates Foundation.
‘It’s possible the stock went down and whoever shorted the stock made money, I don’t know,’ he said.
‘I don’t think whether one’s short or long Tesla is a statement about your seriousness about climate change,’ he added ‘I applaud Tesla’s role in helping with climate change. I have nothing but positive things to say about Elon, if he makes Twitter worse, fine, I’ll speak out about that, but I wouldn’t assume that’s what’s going to happen,’
Gates, the world’s third richest man after Musk and Jeff Bezos, took a shot earlier this year at the Tesla CEO after the electric vehicle maker announced taking a $1.5 billion stake in Bitcoin.
‘Elon has tons of money and he’s very sophisticated, so I don’t worry that his Bitcoin will sort of randomly go up or down,’ Gates told Bloomberg.
‘I do think people get bought into these manias who may not have as much money to spare, so I’m not bullish on Bitcoin. My general thought would be that if you have less money than Elon, you should probably watch out,’ he said.
Gates has also previously made comments about electric trucks like the Tesla Semi not being viable, which Musk countered.
In an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience, Musk said he believes that the Microsoft founder had a big short position on Tesla stocks at one point.
‘I heard that at one point he had a large short position. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it seems weird,’ Musk told Rogan.
‘People I know who know the situation pretty well, I asked them “are you sure?” and they said “yes, he has a huge short position on Tesla.” That didn’t work out too well.’
groups that signed an open letter last month calling on advertisers to boycott Twitter if Musk completes his $44 billion takeover.
