Even Bill Gates, a longtime proponent of big tech taking steps to unilaterally eliminate “disinformation” on its platforms, believes Twitter’s lifetime ban for former President Donald Trump isn’t appropriate, and might actually be making things worse.
After unloading his argument about what might happen if the world doesn’t achieve net-zero carbon emissions within the next 30 years, Gates warned that the blowback could be many multiples worse than it was during COVID-19.
But toward the end of the interview, Fox News’ Chris Wallace asked Gates about Trump and ‘Big Tech’.
Gates replied that while Trump said many things “about the illegitimacy of the 2020 election that were corrosive,” the US doesn’t want to divide social networks along political lines.
“We don’t want to partition and have one social network for one party, then another social network…” Gates said. “There’s got to be some way between the government and the well-meaning actors where we draw a line, and we keep the debate…without the corrosive parts.”
“But the idea that you end up with a lifetime ban – that, it seems like we should discuss.”
This follows remarks from Gates late last week where he said in an interview that it would be “a shame” if Facebook followed through with plans to ban President Trump. Facebook is still waiting for its advisory committee to decide Trump’s future on the platform.
Twitter permanently suspended the @realDonaldTrump account last month, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence,” after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a bid to disrupt the Senate’s certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
Via Zero Hedge