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.
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.
