Screenshots of a satirical article from a website skeptical of COVID-19 vaccination has gone viral on social media as real.
According the claim, co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates had called for the withdrawal of all COVID-19 vaccines because they are “far more dangerous than anyone imagined”.
Gates, who has spearheaded the plan for a vaccine for COVID-19, has been at the centre of a barrage of misinformation from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CLAIM
The headline of the article said: BREAKING – Bill Gates calls for the withdrawal of all COVID-19 Vaccines; “The vaccines are far more dangerous than anyone imagined”.
The article talked about a "19-minute televised speech" where Gates had made the viral statement.
Several social media users shared the link believing it to be true. "In a shocking announcement, Bill Gates, billionaire Microsoft co-founder and the major force behind the COVID-19 vaccines, called for all the COVID-19 genetic-based vaccines to be taken off the market immediately (sic)," wrote one user, copying a bit of text from the article.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
When we conducted a keyword search for the name of the website called "Daily Expose", we came across articles on fact-checking websites like Full Fact that had previously debunked articles written by the website.
A quick glance of the website showed several articles questioning the safety of the vaccines.
We then checked the link of the article in the viral posts and found that the headline of the article had been updated to include that it was a piece of satire.
We also checked on Google for a similar statement by Gates on other news websites but didn't find any results.
Further, we conducted a reverse image search of the image in the viral post and found that it was a screenshot taken from a Gates' CNBC interview on the show Squak Newsmaker on 28 July 2020, much before the vaccinations were approved by any country.
The same image was also used in other articles posted by the publication.
It is important to note that several pieces of misinformation and conspiracy theories have been linked to Bill Gates and former wife Melinda Gates since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, some of which have been debunked by The Quint's WebQoof team.
Clearly, a satirical post has been shared by social media users with a false claim that Gates had called for withdrawal of all COVID-19 vaccines.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
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