Elon Musk is pushing back hard against Bill Gates, following sharp criticism from the Microsoft co-founder that accused Musk of putting the lives of poor children around the globe at risk by undermining America’s foreign aid programs.
“Who does Bill Gates think he is to make comments about the welfare of children?” Musk said during a conversation at the Bloomberg Qatar Economic Forum. He was directly addressing Gates’ claims that Musk’s influence has negatively impacted vulnerable communities around the world.
Musk, who reaffirmed his commitment to remain at the helm of Tesla for at least another half-decade, was adamant in rejecting Gates’ allegations. “Show us any evidence whatsoever that that is true. It’s false,” he declared.
This war of words erupted after Gates launched a scathing critique in the Financial Times, in which he blasted Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for aggressively cutting US foreign aid budgets under President Trump’s leadership.
“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates stated, citing reductions in aid to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which had supported HIV prevention efforts for mothers in places like Mozambique. “I’d love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money.”
According to Gates, these funding cuts were rooted in bizarre theories circulating among Musk’s associates — one being the claim that American aid funds were being used to supply Hamas with condoms in Gaza.
Earlier this year, Musk’s agency dramatically proclaimed the end of USAID’s relevance, announcing, “time for [USAID] to die,” and proceeded to shut down various initiatives. Musk even made a dramatic appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, wielding a chainsaw beside Argentine President Javier Milei to symbolize the slashing of government expenditures.
Responding to the backlash, the White House defended Musk’s moves, describing him as “a patriot working to fulfill President Trump’s mission to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Still, Gates countered that these policy changes had devastating effects on the ground, pointing out that essential vaccines were going unused because there was no money to support their distribution.
The latest exchange is another chapter in a long and contentious history between Musk and Gates, two of the most prominent names in tech. Their rivalry has spanned multiple areas — from global health to clean energy and financial disputes.
One notable episode occurred in 2022, when Musk ridiculed Gates after discovering that he had taken a short position against Tesla shares.
Their bad blood can be traced back at least to 2020, when Gates publicly doubted the practicality of electric semi-trucks, prompting Musk to fire back on social media — then still known as Twitter — with biting remarks and unflattering memes of Gates.
When it came to climate change, Musk called out Gates for contradicting himself. “He had a big short position against Tesla, which is the company doing the most to solve climate change,” Musk tweeted in 2022. “This is not cool.”
Musk has not shied away from making his disdain for Gates public. He once labeled him “a knucklehead” during a Clubhouse discussion and openly questioned Gates’ understanding of electric cars. Meanwhile, Gates has taken Musk to task for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and publicly downplaying its severity.
In one especially pointed comment, Gates remarked, “He’s not much involved in vaccines,” cautioning Musk to avoid weighing in on public health topics outside his expertise.

{Matzav.com}