[VIDEO] Bill Gates Slams Elon Musk Over Coronavirus Comments

Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, has slammed Tesla CEO Elon Musk for spouting coronavirus misinformation on social media.

The Tesla and Space X CEO has been renowned for making controversial comments ever since the coronavirus broke out across the U.S., He once suggested that deaths have been overcounted and lockdowns were unnecessary. He also called California’s approach to combatting coronavirus “fascist” and drew an F-bomb from a politician.

In an interview on CNBC, Billionaire Bill Gates said, “Facts travel slowly on social media compared with ‘negative’ misinformation, which makes it difficult for companies like Facebook and Twitter to strike a balance.

“Elon’s positioning is to maintain a high level of outrageous comments.

“He’s not much involved in vaccines. He makes a great electric car. And his rockets work well. So he’s allowed to say these things. I hope that he doesn’t confuse areas he’s not involved in too much.”

Speaking on the widespread misinformation surrounding the coronavirus, Gates said facts travel slower when compared with misinformation.

Gates who has constantly been the subject of conspiracy theories said, “When you let people communicate, you have to deal with the fact that certain incorrect things that are very titillating can spread very rapidly compared to the truth. And we’ve always seen that with vaccines.

“To the degree to which these media companies can see what’s being said on their platform and take things that are absolutely wrong and get rid of those things or slow those things down, that’s very tough.”

The global tally for confirmed cases of COVID-19 climbed to 16.5 million on Tuesday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, while the death toll rose to 654,327.

Gates however offered up an optimistic take in the interview.

“You can see the therapeutic benefit faster than the protective benefit,” he said “So I think there’s a good chance we’ll have substantial death-rate reduction by the end of the year.”

He did, however, admit he’s “worried” the public is concerned about the safety of the first vaccine.

“Hopefully they’ll look to the facts, understand the values of the people that they’re thinking about and understand that we’re in this together and we need to protect each other with masks and eventually probably with herd immunity with a vaccine,” he said

Watch the video below:

#WATCH: "Lies spread faster than facts on social media." Bill Gates speaks on the spread of and need for policing of misinformation on social media websites like Twitter & Facebook.

Source: CNBC pic.twitter.com/6kYVUg1eXe

— P.M. NEWS (@pmnewsnigeria) July 29, 2020