Corporate Media Rallies to Bill Gates’ Defense

The mainstream media are out in force defending Microsoft founder Bill Gates, alleging that he has become a “right-wing target” due to his involvement in Chinese virus vaccine development.

The New York Times falsely alleges that theories about Gates, including a supposed plan to “cull” the global population have somehow “gained traction” with conservative pundits including Laura Ingraham (she has made no such claim).

The NYT article also highlights Gates’ opposition to President Trump’s decision to cut funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), after widespread criticism against the globalist entity for apparent pro-China favoritism.

Mr. Gates, 64, the Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist, has now become the star of an explosion of conspiracy theories about the coronavirus outbreak. In posts on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, he is being falsely portrayed as the creator of Covid-19, as a profiteer from a virus vaccine, and as part of a dastardly plot to use the illness to cull or surveil the global population.

The wild claims have gained traction with conservative pundits like Laura Ingraham and anti-vaccinators such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Mr. Gates has emerged as a vocal counterweight to President Trump on the coronavirus. For weeks, Mr. Gates has appeared on TV, on op-ed pages and in Reddit forums calling for stay-at-home policies, expanded testing and vaccine development. And without naming Mr. Trump, he has criticized the president’s policies, including this week’s move to cut funding to the World Health Organization.

Articles have also appeared in The Verge, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, Forbes, and other mainstream publications highlighting the “conspiracy theories” directed against Mr. Gates.

The Verge lumps in claims about Gates planning to “cull” the world population with allegations that the Microsoft founder stands to profit from a vaccine — two very different theories:

Hoaxes directed at the Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist, are all over YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The New York Times found 16,000 posts on Facebook this year that were liked and commented on nearly 900,000 times. The 10 most popular Youtube videos spreading misinformation about Gates and the virus were viewed almost five millions times in March and April. The falsehoods being spread vary, but range from him creating COVID-19 in order to profit from a vaccine, or of Gates being a member of a plot to cull humanity and/or implement a global surveillance system.

The New York Times article and other stories cite reports from Zignal Labs, a social media analytics company, claiming that Gates has become the number-one target of coronavirus related “misinformation.”