Zuckerberg expresses concerns about easing lockdown measures. Musk
calls the move 'anti-democratic'.
Silicon
Valley billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg offered dueling views on
lockdown measures designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus on Wednesday,
with Facebook's Zuckerberg endorsing the measures while Tesla's Musk condemned
them as anti-democratic.
Musk, who has often made outspoken and even inflammatory comments on conference calls and on Twitter, said in comments to analysts on Tesla Inc's earnings call that it was "fascist" to say people cannot leave their homes.
"This is not
democratic, this is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom,"
Musk said.
Zuckerberg, on the
other hand, in comments on Facebook's own earnings calls, expressed concerns
about easing lockdown measures and said the economic fallout from the pandemic
would last longer than people are currently anticipating.
"I worry that
reopening certain places too quickly before infection rates have been reduced
to very minimal levels will almost guarantee future outbreaks and worse
longer-term health and economic outcomes," he said.
Both companies are
based in the San Francisco Bay area, which was out front in trying to slow the
virus' spread, with the region's seven counties issuing a joint
shelter-in-place order before California issued a statewide order.
Electric carmaker
Tesla and social media network Facebook have had different experiences under
the lockdown. Tesla had initially resisted efforts by California authorities to
shut its plant in the Bay Area under the lockdown, until agreeing on March 19
to suspend production. Even so, Tesla on Wednesday reported its third
profitable quarter in a row.
No comments:
Post a Comment