r/technology • u/DontFearTheCreaper • 1d ago

Social Media Tech CEOs who grinned behind Trump at inauguration lose billions in wake of tariffs

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-tariff-bezos-musk-zuckerberg-b2727147.html
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u/thedude1179 1d ago

This is misleading. Bill Gates did initially oppose waiving IP protections for COVID-19 vaccines, arguing that the issue wasn’t patents but the complexity of manufacturing. He received a lot of criticism for this. However, the Gates Foundation later reversed its position and supported temporary waivers to improve vaccine access in poorer countries. So while his initial stance may have slowed efforts to expand global vaccine production, it’s not accurate to say he single-handedly blocked open-sourcing vaccines or that he did it to protect pharma profits.

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u/Kwinten 1d ago

“Complexity of manufacturing” was indeed the official line. It’s also complete, racially charged, bullshit. Especially if you know anything at all about Gates’ background and his stance on IP protectionism. No shot that they actually thought that the entire continent of Africa wasn’t able to produce those medicines. The damage that was caused by withholding those patents for so long is incredible. For months and months, Global South nations had to rely on vaccine donations from other countries and purchase them for massively inflated prices. All because benevolent powerful billionaires like Gates couldn’t imagine sharing that IP with countries who they saw as too undeveloped to manufacture those vaccines for their own people.

I’m not saying he was single handedly responsible. But the idea that he’s a good guy among evil psychopaths is an illusion. He’s just as much part of the club, and probably has a higher body count than most of them. Don’t do free PR for these freaks. At least get paid for it when you do.

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u/thedude1179 1d ago

I get where you’re coming from, and yeah, there’s plenty to criticize about how vaccine access was handled. But let’s be real—some of the stuff you’re saying is a stretch.

Gates did push back on waiving IP early on, and people rightfully called him out for it. But saying it was because he didn’t think Africans could handle manufacturing, or that it was racially motivated? That’s more speculation than fact. mRNA vaccines aren’t exactly easy to make—they require some serious infrastructure. That doesn’t mean those countries couldn’t do it, just that the systems weren’t already in place everywhere.

Also, the Gates Foundation eventually supported IP waivers later in 2021. Was that too late? Probably. But this whole “he’s got the highest body count” and “don’t do PR for these freaks” thing kind of derails the actual conversation.

We can call out real harm and bad decisions without turning it into a cartoon villain story. It just muddies the waters.

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u/Kwinten 14h ago

Kind of hard to not turn these people into cartoon villains when they do cartoon villain shit all the fucking time. I think there’s one thing billionaire defenders fail to understand here: they are not normal people with normal motivations like you and I. These people have more wealth than kings and emperors of the olden days. But in contrast to the past, they have instant global reach, and usually don’t need to start literal wars to expand their influence. They let their capital do all the load bearing for them. I cannot overstate enough just how much power a person who controls hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth is. They don’t even need to spend a dime of it to have massive influence everywhere and anywhere they want. Billionaires get to decide who lives and dies in the Global South. They get to decide who gets elected if they care enough to do so. They don’t even need to do anything themselves to further their interests, they can just dangle their massive wealth in front of anyone like a carrot and they’ll do it for them.