yesThe illustrious philanthropist Bill Gates yesterday rejected some of the conspiracy theories that spread online accusing him of creating the coronavirus outbreak.
“It’s a bad combination of pandemic and social media and people looking for a very simple explanation,” said the founder of Microsoft during an interview with CNN’s city council.
Manipulated photos and fabricated news articles crafted by conspiracy theorists, shared thousands of times on social media platforms and multi-language messaging apps targeting Gates have gained popularity online since the start of the pandemic.
A video accusing Gates of wanting to “eliminate 15 percent of the population” through vaccination and electronic microchips has garnered millions of views on YouTube.
“Our foundation has given more money to buy life-saving vaccines than any group,” said Gates, referring to his namesake foundation.
He has pledged $ 250 million (£ 96,122,500) in efforts to combat the pandemic, and his foundation has spent billions of dollars to improve health care in developing countries in the past 20 years.
It is not the first time that Gates has been targeted by conspiracy theorists. When the Zika virus broke out in 2015 in Brazil, he was one of several powerful Western figures blamed for the disease.
Other rumors claim that he is secretly a lizard, an old favorite among online trolls.
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