Fact Check-Quotes attributed to Bill Gates and Klaus Schwab about COVID-19 and population control have been fabricated
Social media users have shared posts that falsely attribute quotes to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), about COVID-19 vaccines and population control. Reuters was unable to find any evidence of either man making the comments – and representatives of both said the alleged quotes had been fabricated.
The posts (here , here , here) attribute the following quote to Gates: “DNA ‘COVID-19’ vaccines should give us extreme control over population worldwide.” They also quote Schwab as saying: “The COVID-19 outbreak is the first big step towards unprecedented control over mankind.”
Speaking in response to the first quote, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation told Reuters it was a false attribution, while Yann Zopf, head of media at WEF, said of the second: “Of course, this ‘quote’ is 100% false: Prof. Schwab has never said this and would never say this. It is the opposite of what he believes. The pandemic must be fought with an ‘all of society’ approach.”
Reuters was also unable to find any evidence of Gates or Schwab having made either comment. It has previously debunked other false claims made about both men. Another falsely attributed quote from Schwab can be seen (here), while claims that Gates has created a COVID-19 vaccine to push forward with population control are debunked here here , here , here and here .
Gates has long been a proponent of slowing unsustainable population growth (here) – and has said he believes this can be achieved by targeting the root causes of poverty and unrest. In 2011, he told Forbes that when he first entered the public health field, it was to focus on contraception. When he later saw data suggesting that falling mortality rates lead to a fall in birth rates, Gates said he shifted his focus to saving people already alive. “We moved pretty heavily into vaccines once we understood that,” he told the magazine (here).
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates has consistently been a target of disinformation (here , here , here). In an interview with Reuters here , he said he was taken aback by the volume of “crazy” and “evil” conspiracy theories about him spreading on social media and would be keen to explore the ideas behind them.
VERDICT
False. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the head of media at the World Economic Forum told Reuters that the quotes were both fabricated. Reuters was also unable to find any evidence of either man making the comments.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
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