I think wired is generally not out there trying to libel people. I am honesty curious why Gates has been out of the public sphere for over ten years but is suddenly out there shilling against crypto for 'the children'.
He has always been involved in a number of social issues through his foundation and have been very vocal/public about them.
Maybe we're just hearing a bit more about him and his thoughts because he's involved in looking for a way out of Covid through his foundation, and has famously 'predicted' something like this.
> When you have encrypted, there is no way to know what it is. I personally believe government should not allow those types of lies or fraud or child pornography.
> Being big in the social media business is no simple game, like the encryption issue.
Personally, I wouldn't call these quotes "shilling", but Gates does seem to have funny thoughts on encryption. Maybe half-baked, but he is smart enough to not voice half-baked thoughts on an interview.
However, I'm also sceptical about the type of "free speech" reclaimthenet.org is advocating. The tone of the article is very sensationalistic, focusing more on calling-out Gates, rather than debunking his thoughts.