"I think, certainly, the Twitter situation is stirring things up. That, instead of an objective set of measures done by a broad group of people, you’re sort of seeing seat-of-the-pants type activity," Gates said in an interview with the US media.
According to Gates, social media platforms should prioritize countering the circulation of materials destabilizing public safety.
"[Social media platforms] need to focus on the things that incite riots or lead to huge misconceptions about the safety of vaccines or masks, or those types of things," Gates added.
On Monday, Musk launched a Twitter poll asking users whether he should resign as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the social media platform and pledging to abide by the results of the vote. The poll closed with over 17.5 million users having participated in it. Around 57.5% of users voted in favor of Musk's resignation, with just 42.5% voting against it.
Before posting the informal poll on his potential stepping down as head of Twitter, Musk tweeted that, from now on, "there will be a vote for major policy changes" on the social media platform.
In late October, Musk finalized the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, a US company founded in 2006 with its headquarters located in San Francisco, California. Following the takeover, Musk changed the company's day-to-day operations, including the termination of Twitter executives who were responsible for the platform's privacy, cybersecurity and censorship, as well as about two-thirds of Twitter's employees.