[Summit] Microsoft founder Bill Gates says he is shocked by the "crazy conspiracy theories" surrounding COVID-19 and that social media networks should take more steps to minimize them.
| No, social media sites should leave them alone. Let Mr. Gates make his pronouncements and perhaps buy some ads on those sites. It's interesting how easily corporate types can become censors. |
Noting that the combination of social media and a pandemic is something that’s never existed before, Gates said "nobody would have predicted" the attention he and Dr. Fauci have received.
The billionaire said "really evil theories" about whether he had created the pandemic or tried to profit from it had been allowed to circulate.
"Do people really believe that stuff?" asked Gates, asserting, "We’re going to have to get educated about this over the next year and understand how does it change people’s behavior."
| Public health has but a few assets, and the most important one is public trust. Some (not all) public health officials burned their trust in responding to the COVID pandemic. When your trust is gone people turn you off. That's what happened to these folks. And that's why public health officials should be very careful in their public statements. |
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