--- title: Donald Trump: We Need Help 'Closing That Internet Up' description: "We’re losing a lot of people because of the Internet" canonical: https://time.com/4140710/donald-trump-wants-bill-gates-to-help-with-closing-that-internet-up/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-08T17:27:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:12:04.049Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Wants Bill Gates to Help With 'Closing That Internet Up' og:description: "We’re losing a lot of people because of the Internet" og:url: https://time.com/4140710/donald-trump-wants-bill-gates-to-help-with-closing-that-internet-up/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt503eb54bd5436b36/6988745e196cf4ae690395ba/donald-trump13.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds Pearl Harbor Day Rally At USS Yorktown og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Wants Bill Gates to Help With 'Closing That Internet Up' twitter:description: "We’re losing a lot of people because of the Internet" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt503eb54bd5436b36/6988745e196cf4ae690395ba/donald-trump13.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Wants Bill Gates to Help With 'Closing That Internet Up' by [Robert Hackett / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Robert Hackett / Fortune Fortune Dec 8, 2015 5:27 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to the crowd at a Pearl Harbor Day Rally at the U.S.S. Yorktown Dec. 7, 2015 in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to the crowd at a Pearl Harbor Day Rally at the U.S.S. Yorktown Dec. 7, 2015 in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.Sean Rayford—Getty Images by [Robert Hackett / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Robert Hackett / Fortune Fortune Dec 8, 2015 5:27 PM UTC The year’s top presidential contenders have begun floating their plans to combat the self-identified Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS). As President Obama [affirms his commitment](http://time.com/4137956/president-obama-oval-office-isis/) to battling the terrorist group through airstrikes, military force, and stricter gun control laws, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton is [floating the idea](http://fortune.com/2015/12/07/hillary-clinton-isis-silicon-valley/) of employing Silicon Valley’s”great disrupters” to block the extremist group’s online communications and content. And now Donald Trump, the Republican leader, has offered a characteristically bombastic proposal of his own. At a campaign rally aboard the _USS Yorktown_ in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Trump [suggested](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Od9Bdfadvc) that Microsoft founder Bill Gates, could possibly help censor parts of the online world. “We’re losing a lot of people because of the Internet,” Trump said. “We have to see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what’s happening. We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way.” “Somebody will say, ‘Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech,’” he added, dismissing the objection with an arm wave. “These are foolish people.” “We’ve got to maybe do something with the Internet because they are recruiting by the thousands.” For all the ambiguities that remain in the plan—and yes, there are many—Trump’s idea actually sounds rather similar to Clinton’s, though it is a bit more ridiculously presented through his sole name-checking of the tech magnate. At least the proposal, at this early stage, seems more targeted in its approach than another one of his recommendations: banning muslims—immigrants, tourists, etc.—from entering the country, as he [recently proposed](http://fortune.com/2015/12/07/trump-muslim-immigration-gop-presidential-election/). Watch the clip yourself beginning at the 23:35 minute mark. _Fortune_ has reached out to Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to request comment from Gates. _This_ [_article_](http://fortune.com/2015/12/08/donald-trump-bill-gates-internet/) _originally appeared on_ [_Fortune.com_](http://fortune.com/2015/12/08/donald-trump-bill-gates-internet/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4140710/donald-trump-wants-bill-gates-to-help-with-closing-that-internet-up/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4140710/donald-trump-wants-bill-gates-to-help-with-closing-that-internet-up/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Wants Bill Gates to Help With 'Closing That Internet Up'","datePublished":"2015-12-08T17:27:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:12:04.049Z","description":"\"We’re losing a lot of people because of the Internet\"","url":"https://time.com/4140710/donald-trump-wants-bill-gates-to-help-with-closing-that-internet-up/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt503eb54bd5436b36/6988745e196cf4ae690395ba/donald-trump13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Robert Hackett / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt503eb54bd5436b36/6988745e196cf4ae690395ba/donald-trump13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds Pearl Harbor Day Rally At USS Yorktown","caption":"Donald Trump Holds Pearl Harbor Day Rally At USS Yorktown","creditText":"Sean Rayford—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4140710/donald-trump-wants-bill-gates-to-help-with-closing-that-internet-up/","name":"Donald Trump Wants Bill Gates to Help With 'Closing That Internet Up'"}}]}] ```