Bill Gates criticised fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk for promoting far-right politics not just in the United States, but around the world ― and urged other nations to take action to limit the influence of outsiders such as Musk.
“It’s really insane that he can destabilise the political situations in countries,” Gates told the The Times of London. “I think in the US foreigners aren’t allowed to give money; other countries maybe should adopt safeguards to make sure super-rich foreigners aren’t distorting their elections.”
Musk, who became part of President Donald Trump’s inner circle while spending more than $250 million on his campaign, has since spoken out in other countries. He’s attacked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his centre-left Labour Party while dishing out advice to that nation’s right-wing Reform UK party, which he urged to drop leader Nigel Farage.
In addition, Musk spoke remotely to Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party over the weekend, urging them to “take pride in Germany” and not feel guilty for the actions of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.
Gates, who co-founded Microsoft, was not impressed.
“You want to promote the right wing but say Nigel Farage is not right wing enough… I mean, this is insane shit,” Gates told the newspaper. “You are for the AfD [in Germany].”
He dismissed Musk’s actions as “populist stirring.”
Gates also described a three-hour dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month.
“It was quite an engaging conversation where he listened to me talk about HIV and the need to stay generous and to innovate to get a cure,” Gates said. “I talked a lot about polio and energy and nuclear, and he wasn’t dismissive.”
He called the encounter “pretty constructive.”