Bill Gates hits out at Elon Musk, calls his comments on the pandemic "outrageous"

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently hit out at Tesla boss Elon Musk, suggesting he should perhaps focus on making electric vehicles and rockets rather than the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Gates called Musk’s comments about the coronavirus pandemic “outrageous”. Gates said, “Elon’s positioning is to maintain a high level of outrageous comments.” The Tesla boss has made the news for all the wrong reasons, ever since the pandemic hit the US.

In the past, Musk suggested that deaths have been overcounted and lockdowns may not have been necessary. He even said that California’s approach to combating COVID-19 was “fascist”. The Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist had pointed out that misinformation travels faster than facts on social media.

Gates 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.”