- Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates said Tesla CEO Elon Musk should be thinking about how to “help out”—not stir the pot.
Billionaire tech founder Bill Gates seems just as baffled as foreign voters when it comes to Elon Musk’s dabbling in overseas politics.
In recent months the CEO of Tesla has launched attacks on the likes of Britain’s prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, as well as appearing virtually over the weekend at a campaign for far-right German party Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD).
The Microsoft cofounder and the X/xAIi/SpaceX/Boring Company/Neuralink boss have long been something of adversaries, but in an interview released this week Gates accused Musk of “insane s—.”
Asked if Gates would enjoy influencing politics in the same way Musk seems to be, he responded: “Not at all. I thought the rules of the game were you picked a finite number of things to spout about that you cared for, focused on a few critical things, rather than telling people who they should vote for… For me it’s only ever about aid.
“I did think Brexit was a mistake, but I wasn’t tweeting every day.”
Speaking to British newspaper the Times, the billionaire tech founder said he was “ultra different” from the richest man on the planet.
Gates explained: “It’s really insane that he [Musk] can destabilize the political situations in countries.”
As such, Gates urged overseas governments to adopt safeguards to ensure “super-rich foreigners” can’t influence their elections: “It’s difficult to understand why someone who has a car factory in both China and in Germany, whose rocket business is ultra-dependent on relationships with sovereign nations and who is busy cutting $2 trillion in U.S. government expenses and running five companies, is obsessing about this grooming story in the U.K. I’m like, what?”
U.K. and German involvement
Musk did indeed wade into matters at Westminster at the start of the year following a scandal relating to child sexual abuse perpetrated by grooming gangs.
The man worth $428 billion variously called for the United Kingdom’s parliament to be dissolved, asked King Charles III to intervene, and said the nation’s democratically elected leader should be jailed.
Over the weekend Musk also chimed in on German politics, telling audiences at an AfD campaign event: “It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.”
Gates was critical of Musk’s takedowns of politicians—including Britain’s Reform U.K. leader, Nigel Farage.
“You want to promote the right wing but say Nigel Farage is not right wing enough… I mean, this is insane s—,” Gates added. “You are for the AfD [in Germany].”
As a man who also frequently speaks with world leaders, Gates also cautioned: “We can all overreach… If someone is super-smart, and he is, they should think how they can help out. But this is populist stirring.”
These remarks come after Gates was relatively optimistic about Musk’s work at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), telling the Wall Street Journal it could allay some fears over government debt.
Is Musk overstepping?
Voters in Germany and the U.K. alike seem inclined to agree with Gates’ take that Musk is inserting himself into matters that don’t concern him.
Earlier this month pollsters YouGov spoke to more than 2,200 British adults and 2,200 German adults, who overwhelmingly said they wanted Musk out of their politics.
For example, 73% of Germans said it was unacceptable that Musk was trying to influence politics in their nation, while 69% of Brits felt the same.
This is arguably because the voters simply don’t like the billionaire tech titan, with 71% of adults in both countries saying they had “unfavorable” views of the entrepreneur.
The respondents also said Musk was uneducated about their nations—63% of adults in both countries said Musk had little to no knowledge of their political landscape—and around half felt the best response to his actions is to ignore him.
Gates has a more tempered approach to the policies he will publicly advocate for, adding: “I am going to speak out, but not in the sense of telling people which party to vote for. I am going to speak out and say, ‘Hey, the U.K. aid that has funded vaccines, British voters should be proud of that.’”
Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.
