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[ ARTICLE ]

Some social media posts are distorting Bill Gates' initiatives to address poverty and disease in the world

HIBRID

Claims that Bill Gates has chosen to “increase his income” with “evil projects” that include “blocking the sun” and “producing toxic vaccines” instead of ending poverty and improving the environment are misleading.

A meme that includes these claims has been shared hundreds of times on Facebook and includes a green-filtered image of Gates' face. The caption reads: "Why would a person with enough money to end world hunger, end poverty, regenerate land, and clean up the oceans choose to throw his money at GMO mosquitoes, blocking the sun, creating fake meat, and most importantly producing toxic vaccines for 7 billion people?"

https://www.facebook.com/lisette.chesshire/posts/3940556782687985

This post has taken some of Gates' initiatives out of context by misrepresenting the billionaire's stated goals, namely to use his wealth to find ways to end poverty, treat disease, and stop climate change.

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/our-role#jump-nav-anchor1

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/our-story

In fact, many of the goals that Gates denies in these posts have been documented since Bill and his ex-wife Melinda Gates co-founded their Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, merging Bill Gates' father's William H. Gates Foundation with the Gates Teaching Foundation. It is now one of the world's largest charitable organizations with a focus on public health and education.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/gates-marital-split-follows-melindas-long-journey-away-bills-shadow-2021-05-04/

Between 1994 and 2018, Gates gave the foundation more than $36 billion, according to the foundation's website, with grants also including $1.75 billion for vaccine initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/wealth-philanthropy-bill-melinda-gates-2021-05-03/

However, the content of the Facebook post about “toxic” vaccines likely stems from misinformation, previously exposed by Reuters, about plans to address overpopulation. Bill Gates, at a TED conference in 2010, had said that improving public health care, such as reproductive services and vaccines, could limit population growth. These comments have been repeatedly taken out of context to misrepresent Gates’ plans by falsely claiming that his goal is to kill billions of people with inoculations. More can be seen regarding these claims:

https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-gates-vaccine-idUSL1N2MF1L8

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-bill-gates-fake-3-billion-q-idUSKBN29Y20D

Similarly, his investments in genetically modified (GMO) mosquitoes are aligned with the foundation’s goals of ending poverty, disease, and inequality around the world (www.gatesfoundation.org/). Oxitec, a British biotechnology company (www.oxitec.com), has released genetically modified mosquitoes with a self-limiting gene in Brazil (here), Cayman Islands (here), Panama (here) and the United States (here).

(Full article in English from Reuters fact-checking section)

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