Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, at the discussion “Innovation Potential in Africa, in Berlin, Germany.
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Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates told CNBC that social media companies should finally take their snout from former President Donald Trump, despite his ‘corrosive’ conspiracy theories in the election fraud.
“I think at some point he will probably be re-admitted and will probably be re-admitted,” the Microsoft co-founder said in an interview aired Thursday morning.
Andrew Ross Sorkin, co-host of CNBC’s Squawk Box, asked Gates if he would allow Trump on social media if he was on Facebook’s supervisory board.
That social media giant and others, including Twitter, suspended Trump from their platforms after spreading a series of unfounded conspiracy theories and falsehoods about his election loss to President Joe Biden.
Democrats and some Republicans blamed Trump for inciting the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in which five people died. The Senate on Saturday dropped ten votes short after convicting Trump of his accusation.
“It’s weird when you, you know, say the election was stolen without any facts there. And how corrosive it is,” Gates said.
“But I’ll bet they’ll find a way to let him in again,” he added, adding that Trump’s future false posts could be slapped with warning labels.
“You know, in a way … people’s interest in what he says can go down a lot,” Gates added. “It will be interesting to watch.”
Since social media is not available to him, Trump has issued fewer statements since leaving the White House on January 20.
After the death of Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday, Trump called Fox News for his first telephone interview after the president, repeating many of the false election claims that social media companies had asked to ban him.