A new report claims the Gates’ foundation donated “hundreds of millions of dollars” to multiple groups behind a campaign encouraging advertisers to boycott Twitter if Musk takes over.
Breitbart News reported that they “analyzed public filings to trace hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions from the letter signatories back to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation”.
The article claims the Gates Foundation donated to 11 of the 26 signatories of an open letter encouraging the boycott.
The New Venture Fund “received the largest one-year commitment the Gates Foundation had made in more than half a decade” and funded four signatories including The Center for Media Justice, The Media Democracy Fund, The National Hispanic Media Coalition (via the Media Democracy Fund) and Accountable Tech.
The Tides Foundation, another recipient of Gates Foundation money, funded the other five signatories.
Those include Free Press, Indivisible, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Media Matters, and Black Lives Matter Global Network.
The New Venture Fund and the Tides Foundation have both been characterized as “dark money” groups.
“Recently, Musk asked his 94 million Twitter followers to uncover the funding behind the 26 NGOs who signed an intimidation letter threatening to destroy the company’s advertising revenue if Musk reversed its censorship policies,” Breitbart said.
A feud between Musk and Gates has continued for months, with Gates recently criticizing the Tesla CEO’s plan to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
Musk also accused Gates of taking a large position betting against Tesla stock, calling him a “b*ner” killer next to a meme of Gates as a pregnant man emoji.
