Fact-check: Elon Musk Suspends Bill Gates On Twitter
A screenshot on social media has gone viral again claiming that Tesla CEO Elon Musk suspended billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates’ Twitter account, just after the declaration of Musk’s $44 billion deal to purchase the social media platform.
The allegations includes a purported image of Gates’ Twitter page with a graphic tagging it as suspended. “Damn Elon moves quick,” reads an April 25 tweet
USA Today reports that an April 25 Facebook post of the tweet was posted more than 1,000 times in three days, and a version published on Twitter amassed over 30,000 likes and 3,000 retweets in a week.
But, Nexus News ran a fact-check and discovered that the image in the tweet and the Facebook post is forged.
It was gathered that Musk made no such move and doesn’t yet control the company – and Gates tweeted multiple times after the claim was published.
Furthermore, Gates’ Twitter account has stayed active, even at the time the fake screenshot was posted. He tweeted twice on April 25, at 4:26 p.m. and 6:05 p.m.
Similarly, Gates’ account details such as follower counts, written bio, and profile image, were visible on the fake screenshot.
However, Twitter profiles that have been suspended appear to users without those details. The user’s Twitter handle remains visible after a suspension, accompanied with the notice: “Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules.”
According to The New York Times, the transaction between Twitter and Musk is expected to close later in 2022. Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief executive, estimated that Musk’s deal for the social media platform could take three to six months to close.
Twitter said in a press release that its board of directors unanimously authorized the deal, which is now subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.
