yournewswire newspunch
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</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/bill-gates-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-spread-social-media-and-then-fox-news" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/bill-gates-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-spread-social-media-and-then-fox-news</font></a></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><header class="editorial-fullheader" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="subtitle" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; font-weight: bold; font-size: medium; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, white nationalists, and QAnon supporters spread the false claim online</font></p><p class="byline" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3rem; box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="bylinelabel" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 0.5rem;">WRITTEN BY</span> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/author/alex-kaplan" hreflang="en" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">ALEX KAPLAN</a></font></p><div class="dateline--group" style="box-sizing: border-box; align-items: center; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap;"><p class="dateline" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="datelinelabel" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 0.5rem;">PUBLISHED</span><b> <time datetime="2020-04-08T12:13:40-0400" style="box-sizing: border-box;">04/08/20 </time></b></font></p></div></header><div class="editorial-fullarticle" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2.25rem;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A conspiracy theory about Microsoft founder Bill Gates and a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus has been circulating for weeks on social media platforms, getting high engagement numbers, and has since been pushed by both Fox News host Laura Ingraham and a Newsmax correspondent.</b></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As the coronavirus pandemic has spread throughout the United States, Gates, who runs an organization that focuses on public health worldwide and has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31956344" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">warned of the threat of epidemics for years</a>, has been leading efforts to and spoken out about finding a vaccine. That has included <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-factories-7-different-vaccines-to-fight-coronavirus-2020-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">spending</a> billions of dollars to find a cure via his foundation and doing interviews on shows including <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-gates-says-were-facing-nightmare-scenario-but-expresses-hope-death-toll-can-be-well-short-of-projections/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Fox News Sunday</a></em> and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-news/bill-gates-coronavirus-pandemic-ted-talk-daily-show-trevor-noah-977869/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Daily Show</a></em> about the need for a vaccine.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Gates on March 18 also <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/bill-gates-calls-us-coronavirus-testing-disorganized-in-reddit-ama/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">participated in</a> a Reddit “AMA” (“Ask me anything”) Q&A, where he encouraged a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/03/18/bill-gates-calls-for-national-tracking-system-for-coronavirus-during-reddit-ama/#402c2ba6a72f" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“national tracking system”</a> for the coronavirus <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fksnbf/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_melinda_gates/fkupg49/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">and</a> “some digital certificates to show who has recovered or been tested recently or when we have a vaccine who has received it.</b>”<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Scientific American <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/invisible-ink-could-reveal-whether-kids-have-been-vaccinated/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> in December that Gates had been funding efforts to create an invisible ink that could go into people’s skin to see who has been vaccinated</span>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A Massachusetts Institute of Technology bioengineer said the ink could provide data that is useful in fighting disease around the world, noting, “If we don’t have good data, it’s really difficult to eradicate disease” (t</span>hough the outlet also quoted a bioengineering professor admitting it could raise privacy concerns).</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During this time, conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, white nationalists, and supporters of the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/fbi-calls-qanon-domestic-terror-threat-trump-has-amplified-qanon-supporters-twitter-more-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">QAnon conspiracy theory</a> have spread a baseless conspiracy theory on multiple social media platforms, far-right sites, and message boards claiming that Gates’ effort to help develop a vaccine is some kind of nefarious attempt to control, follow, or even <b>depopulate the world’s population via a “microchip” of some sort </b>(the “<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">depopulation” claim is based on a <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/may/03/blog-posting/no-bill-gates-did-not-outline-2018-plan-depopulate/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">major misreading of</a> Gates’ past remarks).</span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A review by Media Matters found that the conspiracy theory first seemed to gain traction around<b> March 17, when a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863331" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">YouTube video</a> </b>about the virus mischaracterized Gates’ work to develop trackable vaccine data as “implanting everybody with a global ID” and compared it to tattoos on Holocaust victims</span>. The video received more than <b>120,000 views</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">. On that same day, conspiracy theory outlet Infowars <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200407190712/https://www.infowars.com/covid-19-tracking-bracelets-invisible-tattoos-to-monitor-americans/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">published</a> a piece and video of an Infowars host suggesting Gates was using the situation to “reduce the world’s population,” citing the invisible ink, and tied it to claiming the government would give out a “color-coded wristband that will be used for traveling Americans during an impending COVID-19 lockdown.” The Infowars article subsequently <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/294759880597706/permalink/3794753137265012" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">spread in</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/188295541208911/permalink/2948636005174837" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Facebook groups</a> and showed up as a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863361" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">meme on Instagram</a>..</span>..[pix]</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...Following Gates’ AMA and his “<b>digital certificates”</b> comment, the conspiracy theory spread on <b>March 18, moving to message boards including <a href="https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/248903553/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">4chan’s “/pol/”</a> and the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/fkzyui/bill_gates_lets_slip_the_real_reason_for_the/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">conspiracy subreddit</a> on Reddit</b>, where a user called Gates’<b> Reddit posts “pretext for introduction of certificate of movement” and a plan to be <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“fully enslaved by the Deep State.”</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">On <b>Telegram</b> that evening, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/steve-king-says-hes-repeatedly-talked-white-nationalist-commentator-faith-goldy" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">white nationalist</a> Faith Goldy wrote that Gates’ posts were “underreported” and that a “microchip implant ID” would be harmful to “nationalists.”</span>[fiath g twt?]</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The following day, as the conspiracy theory continued to </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">circulate on <a href="https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/248998405/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">4chan</a>, it was <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200403234354/https://newspunch.com/bill-gates-coronavirus-means-need-digital-certificates-prove-who-received-vaccine/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">picked up by</a> NewsPunch, a disinformation site <a href="https://mashable.com/article/yournewswire-news-punch-domain-facebook-fake-news/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">formerly known as</a> <a href="https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2018/fact-checkers-have-debunked-this-fake-news-site-80-times-its-still-publishing-on-facebook/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">YourNewsWire</a>,</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">which accused Gates of pushing for technology that will be “adopted for its ‘convenience and safety’ and then overnight will become mandatory for you and your family – or else.” <b>That piece, too, </b></span><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/277201189587719/permalink/557910038183498" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">circulated</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> on social media and as </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863376" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">a meme</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, along with other memes accusing Gates of using a vaccine to work with “globalists” for a “new world order.”</span></b></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[pix]</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On March 21, another <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863386" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">YouTube video</a> was uploaded saying Gates wants to implant microchips in people and calling them a “mark of Satan” that could be used for “identifying us to the <b>United Nations.</b>”</span> <b>The video has received nearly 1.8 million views and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863391" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">at least 1.2 million Facebook engagements</a></b>, according to the tracking tool BuzzSumo. That includes shares in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/346378325942318/permalink/628567417723406" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">QAnon Facebook groups</a> and on a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/drowned-out-algorithm-pro-vaccination-advocates-struggle-be-heard-online-n976321" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">major anti-vaxx Facebook page</a>.[pix w/ pyr eye]</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;" /><div class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-image paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -58.625px; margin-right: -58.625px;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media media--image" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;" /></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>throughout the rest of March, more videos popped up on YouTube (</b>despite the platform’s <a href="https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com/2020/03/coronavirus-update-on-creator-support.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">pledge to crack down on</a> coronavirus misinformation<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">) accusing Gates of wanting <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863406" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“eugenics” and “population control”</a> and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863411" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claiming he is</a> the antichrist and that he essentially supports genocide; they racked up another 1.6 million views combined. The videos included a clip from <b><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/youtube-permanently-bans-channel-that-called-trump-s-impeachment-jew-coup-1.8569322" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">anti-Semitic</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AlKapDC/status/953019673775353863" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">conspiracy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AlKapDC/status/1138513233629843457" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">theory</a> outlet TruNews</b> and a video whose title <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863416" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">called the virus</a> a “hoax” (those videos received <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863436" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">hundreds of thousands</a> of <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863441" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Facebook engagements</a> combined)..</span>..[rw talk?]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Videos on social media platform <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">TikTok p</span>ushing the conspiracy theory in late March and early April</b> also racked up many views (despite the platform’s <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-denying-conspiracy-theory-hashtag-spreading-tiktok-infowars-host" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">anti-misinformation policy</a>). One <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863451" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">video</a> that received more than 230,000 views included in the caption “<b>#fvaccines</b>” and<b> accused Gates of pushing for everyone on the planet to have a “digital ID … by combining mandatory vaccines with implantable microchips</b>.” (Media Matters removes identifying information from videos created by or featuring minors to protect their identity.) Another video that received tens of thousands of views claimed Gates was “evil” and connected him to a plan to “get everybody microchipped” via vaccines.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...[pix]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The conspiracy theory continued to spread following news in early April of Gates’ spending for a coronavirus cure. Another major <a href="https://angrywhitemen.org/2020/03/24/the-owner-of-a-white-nationalist-telegram-channel-revealed-his-jewish-heritage-now-some-allies-are-abandoning-him/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">white nationalist Telegram account</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863481" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">shared</a> a post saying Gates wants the population “extinguished,” and multiple accounts on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1468136673415899/posts/2677335485829339" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B-lj5YsApEk/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Instagram</a>, including QAnon and anti-vaxx accounts, shared a meme urging people to take “no vaccine from some shady ass nerd that wants to depopulate the planet.</span>” <b>Ben Garrison, a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/here-are-extremist-figures-going-white-house-social-media-summit" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">far-right and pro-Trump cartoonist</a></b>, drew a cartoon pushing the conspiracy theory that portrays<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Gates as a Nazi, which was also <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200408124550/https://thedonald.win/p/FMSsg9Mm/ben-garrison-bill-gates-vaccine/c/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">posted on</a> the backup site of the pro-Trump subreddit “r/The_Donald.”</span>[pix meme blk kid]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...<b>By April 6, bigger <a href="https://twitter.com/Education4Libs/status/1247317002189975553" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">QAnon</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/QBlueSkyQ/status/1246905905301663747" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accounts</a> on social media had spread the conspiracy theory, such as <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/shortly-talking-about-jewish-question-qanon-supporter-says-turning-point" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Dylan Wheeler</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">who <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3863501" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accused</a> Gates of using “microchip[s]” in order to be “the face of the <b>New World Order.”</b> </span></font></p><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That afternoon, <b>Emerald Robinson, Newsmax’s White House correspondent, tweeted a thread accusing Gates of “control[ling] global health policy” and saying that his “plan” was to use “vaccines to track people.”</b></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">On the morning of April 7,<b> Fox host Laura Ingraham,</b> while<b> quote-tweeting an <a href="https://www.irishpost.com/news/jim-corr-corrs-comes-support-anti-vaxx-movement-168537" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">anti-vaxx musician's</a> post about Gates’ AMA, </b>said “globalists” see the pandemic as a “perfect vehicle” for their “dream” of “digitally tracking Americans’ every move.</span>”</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The spread of the conspiracy theory comes as <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/guide-right-wing-media-coronavirus-reactions-and-conspiracy-theories" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">multiple other conspiracy theories</a> about the coronavirus have <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/right-wing-media-figures-spread-empty-hospitals-theory-downplay-threat" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">circulated</a> on <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/qanon-conspiracy-theory-post-about-coronavirus-spreading-social-media" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">social</a> <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/06/tech/5g-coronavirus-conspiracy/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">media</a>, including others about <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/qanon-supporters-and-anti-vaxxers-are-spreading-a-hoax-that" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Gates and the virus</a>.</font></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div></div></div></div>