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As soon as the global pandemic began, as people spent more time on computers and mobile devices, the virtual space was flooded with a wave of conspiracy theories and fake news.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has dubbed this phenomenon an infodemic and suggests that it be taken seriously.
B. Gates, the founder of Microsoft, became one of the major players in liars theory and conspiracy theories.
Where did it all begin?
Despite philanthropists’ warning of a possible global pandemic in 2015, In January 2020, it allocated 10 million. Dollars (8.2 million euros) and at the end of the year another 250 million. USD (205 million euros) In the fight against COVID-19, he is still considered by conspirators to be one of the biggest villains.
In 2015, speaking at the TED conference, Gates emphasized that in 2014, the world had miraculously averted a global Ebola pandemic.
He said lessons must be learned: Realizing the mistakes that could have been made, immediate action must be taken, from medical training to vaccine development, to prevent similar disasters from happening again in the future.
As soon as the COVID-19 pandemic started, in January 2020, a message appeared on Twitter that Gates allegedly knew in advance about the impending pandemic.
It was distributed by a user affiliated with the QAnon conspiracy community Jordan sather.
Reuters / Photo by Scanpix / QAnon, a group of conspiracy theorists convinced that Donald Trump is the savior of the world.
The message highlighted that the Pirbright Institute in the UK, funded by Bill and Melinda Gates, had pre-registered a patent for the development of an attenuated form of coronavirus, and thus for the actual production of the vaccine.
This conspiracy theory became so widespread that the institute that works with veterinary viruses was repeatedly forced to interpret simple facts.
The Pirbright Institute does not work with coronaviruses that are dangerous to humans, – the researchers of that organization were looking for a vaccine that could be applied to birds, in this case – to prevent chicken bronchitis.
The second avalanche of liars – from Italy
In March 2020, Sara Cunial, a member of the Italian Parliament, appeared on the social network Facebook. distributed a video calling for Gates’ arrest and “an investigation into his crimes against humanity.”
According to the politicians, Gates is contributing to the development of a vaccine against COVID-19 to turn all of humanity into slaves and “guinea pigs.”
Photo from Facebook / Video by S.Cunial
Despite the fact that independent fact-checkers at Facebook, after evaluating all the arguments, noted that this video is not true, to date millions of users have watched it.
In article form, S.Cunial’s arguments were also distributed in Lithuania.
The deputy accused the millionaires metersterilization of African women.
The fake news dates back to 2010, when Mame-Yaa Bosumtwi, a former Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation employee with whom her contract was not renewed, began publicly harassing her former colleague James Philips, a demographer at the Mailman School of Public Health. from Columbia University. .
Photo by Scanpix / Conspiracy theories in virtual space resonate in actual protests
A former colleague accused the demographer of participating in the foundation’s project to test the Depa-Provera contraceptive with unsuspecting residents of Ghana’s Navrong village.
According to her, an illegal “population control experiment” was carried out at that time.
Although he did not provide any proof, the forgery allegations have become quite widespread over the years.
In 2011 and 2013, a marginalized group of women’s rights activists called the Rebecca Human Rights Project distributed reports alleging that Americans were conducting illegal medical experiments in Africa.
Interestingly, the founder of this group and the author of the reports was Kwame Fosu, the father of M. Bosumtwi’s son.
Ghanaian journalist Kathryn Joyce has denied this fake news in a series of investigative journalism posts.
Indian disinformation
In a forceful speech, the Italian MP said Gates was to blame for the paralysis of half a million children following polio vaccination in India. This is not true.
The origins of this statement go back to the account of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of the former US president, on the social network Instagram.
The assassinated president’s nephew is the founder and leader of the World Mercury Project, an association that fights against vaccines and often spreads misinformation.
RFKenned Jr. has posted a message on his account:
“Indian doctors blame Gates’ company for a terrible polio vaccine epidemic: 496,000 children were paralyzed between 2000 and 2017.”
Reuters / Scanpix Photo / Bill Gates celebrates 60 years at school in India
Subsequently, the publication was copied thousands of times and spread on the social network Facebook.
This is a false statement. In 2014, India was officially declared a polio-free country and there is no evidence of infection or paralysis of nearly half a million children due to vaccine-derived poliovirus.
Vaccine-induced polio is a particularly rare condition. From 2000 to 2017 World Health Organization (WHO) recorded only 17 such cases in India.
Universal vaccination and peeling
One of the strangest conspiracy theories about Gates appeared in April 2020.
He said Gates plans to vaccinate people around the world against COVID-19 because he wants people to be microchipped with the vaccine to control them.
This conspiracy theory emerged after Gates interviews users of the social network Reddit.
In answering their questions, the philanthropist predicted that there should be the possibility of COVID-19 digital passports, which would make it possible to distinguish between people who are sick or who have been tested.
He also alluded to the possibility of tracking contacts through mobile devices.
Photo from Kaunas clinics / Revaccination at Kaunas clinics
This information is no longer surprising: in many countries, including Lithuania, mobile applications have been developed for the domestic market to help researchers track the contacts of an infected person with healthy people.
Korona STOP app has been running in Lithuania for some time, which users voluntarily install.
Will make everyone vegan
When the philanthropist and investor spoke of the need to save the planet in the transition to more sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions, he once again found himself at the center of conspiracy theorists.
Interview with a popular 60 minute news program from the United States Gates emphasized that in the near future, humanity should make many environmentally friendly decisions to save the planet, including consuming more plant-based meat.
This spawned a new conspiracy theory: Social media has started to spread the idea that animals are specifically being destroyed and that people will soon be forced to become vegan, because that’s what Gates is trying to do. do.
Photo by Vida Press / Beef steak
Some netizens who have spread this theory have gone even further, saying that after the disappearance of the main source of testosterone, meat, men who inadvertently become vegan will eat soy meat, which is rich in female hormones.
This interpretation is unfounded because, in the first place, meat is not the main source of testosterone. Second, the technologies Gates has invested in are not related to soy products.
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