Fact Check: Did Bill Gates slam Elon Musk over Tesla, X, and SpaceX?

WASHINGTON, DC: A viral post has sparked widespread debate, claiming Bill Gates and Elon Musk had a heated exchange over Tesla, X (formerly Twitter), and SpaceX’s use of NASA technology.

The alleged conversation shows Gates criticizing Musk for acquiring the companies, followed by Musk's humorous response threatening to buy Microsoft and fire Gates. The post has attracted significant engagement, with users also debating Gates’s role in Microsoft’s history, pointing out that he acquired DOS rather than developing it from scratch. Let’s fact-check the claim.

Claim: Bill Gates criticized Elon Musk for acquiring tech companies

The viral post about Bill Gates and Elon Musk appeared on an X account named @snowball1926, run by Linda Lewis, on November 2, 2026. The post contains a single image designed to look like a screenshot of tweets, with very little text apart from a short link.

The image shows an alleged tweet from Bill Gates criticizing Elon Musk. It claims Musk did not create Tesla but bought it, did not create X but acquired Twitter, and used NASA technology and engineers for SpaceX instead of developing everything himself. Gates allegedly ends his message by saying, “I MADE MICROSOFT!”

The image also shows an alleged reply from Musk, who jokingly threatens to buy Microsoft just to fire Gates. He adds that people seem to forget how much money he has and calls it a funny Tuesday.

The post quickly attracted attention, receiving tens of thousands of likes, thousands of reposts, and hundreds of thousands of views.

The post appeared amid ongoing tensions between the two billionaires. On October 30, Musk publicly claimed that Gates still held a large short position against Tesla and was funding people who criticized him.

Their disagreements had also involved Gates criticizing Musk's role in cutting US foreign aid programmes through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Gates accused the cuts of hurting some of the world's poorest people.

Musk responded by bringing up Gates's alleged Tesla short position and questioning his commitment to climate action and philanthropy.

Fact Check: The claim is false

The viral image is a fake meme. Community Notes on the original post also confirm that neither Bill Gates nor Elon Musk posted the tweets shown in the image. There is no evidence that the alleged exchange ever took place.

Tesla was founded in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Elon Musk joined the company in 2004 by leading its first major investment round. He later became chairman and took over as CEO in 2008.

Similarly, Musk did not create Twitter. He bought the platform for $44 billion in October 2022 and later changed its name to X. However, he founded SpaceX in 2002.

Bill Gates, along with Paul Allen, co-founded Microsoft in 1975. The company first focused on developing software, including a BASIC interpreter.

Although the meme refers to real events in the business histories of both billionaires, it presents them in a misleading way. It uses facts about company acquisitions, investments, and technology to make the alleged exchange look believable. However, the specific conversation between Gates and Musk is fabricated.