One of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates has come out to debunk rumours that has been making the rounds online of him being behind the coronavirus outbreak.
“It’s a bad combination of pandemic and social media and people looking for a very simple explanation,” the Microsoft founder said during an interview with CNN Town Hall.
There has been doctored photos and fabricated news articles devised by conspiracy theorists – shared thousands of times on social media platforms in various languages – targeting the one time richest man in the world, which has gained a foothold online since the start of the pandemic.
In one of such videos, Bill Gates was accused of trying to eliminate 15% of the population through vaccination and electronic microchips. The video has so far racked up millions of views on YouTube.
“Our foundation has given more money to buy vaccines to save lives than any group,” Gates said in reference to his eponymous foundation.
He has so far pledged $250 million in efforts to fight the pandemic, and his foundation has spent billions of dollars improving healthcare in developing countries over the past twenty years.
