Bill Gates questions Elon Musk’s goals with Twitter: ‘He could make it worse’

Speaking at the at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Summit Wednesday, Gates asked of Elon Musk: “How does he feel about something [on Twitter] that says ‘vaccines kill people’ or that ‘Bill Gates is tracking people?’”

Bill Gates warned that Musk could ruin the social media firm by buying it.

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Summit Wednesday, Gates said it was unclear how Musk would change Twitter if he took ownership.

Gates said he believed Musk had done a good job of putting his company together.

I don't think that will happen this time, but we should have an open mind and never underestimate him.

The tech billionaire made comments after Musk accused him of shortingTesla stock. CNBC decided not to print a crude joke about Gates. Gates said the insults don't bother him.

Gates, who has been replaced by Musk as the world's richest person in recent years, questioned whether Musk's drive to promote free speech is sensible.

Gates asked how he felt about something that saidvaccines kill people or that Bill Gates is tracking people.

What is his goal for what it ends up being? Is that the same idea of less extreme falsehoods spreading quickly? Gates asked if he shared that goal or not.

A representative for Musk didn't respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Over the last few weeks, Musk has talked about a number of ways he may look to improve the service. He suggested late on Tuesday that he might charge companies a fee to use the platform.

There is a lot of vaccine misinformation on social media, with some wrongly claiming that Gates was using vaccines to implant 5G chips into people so that he could track their location.

Gates said that it was so unexpected and almost so bizarre.

He believes that it is dangerous when people cast out on the key tool that is being used to save people's lives.

Musk’s plan to buy Twitter has worried policymakers around the world.

It's hard for the platform to work against vaccines when they don't have trusted leaders speaking out.

Gates said that there was a real invention required to make those platforms spread truth and not crazy stuff.

It is a huge problem in terms of legitimacy of elections or medical innovations.

Gates said that the information on the efficacy of drugs should be a blessing to mankind.

He said that he couldn't explain that.

Gates wants to set up a 3,000 person social media unit to help spread vaccine information. Good messages need to be carried forward by people of trust in the community, such as political and ethnic leaders.