Fact-check: Is Bill Gates planning to eliminate three billion people?

There’s no evidence that Bill Gates made such a statement. 

Writer: Ochaya Jackson

A video circulating on WhatsApp claiming that, according to Bill Gates, three billion people should be eliminated is false and misleading. The video claim is accompanied by a statement that urges people to share it on every platform so that they (Africans) can protect themselves and their families.

“Let’s continue sharing this video [on] every platform for the well-being of the Africans. Watch this video now or watch it again and figure out how to protect yourself and your families in the medications that you take or the packaged food that you consume because you’re too busy to pay attention,” read the text accompanying the video claim.

In the two-minute video, a man identified as Doctor Robert O. Young, who appeared on a panel for the International Tribunal for Natural Justice, attributed to Bill Gates the statement that at least three billion people need to die. Young goes on to say that they ‘will start off in Africa’ on the pretext that they are deplorable and worthless, which the viral WhatsApp message focuses on. 

“For the purpose of sterilisation and population control, there’s too many people on the planet we need to get rid of. In the words of Bill Gates, at least three billion people need to die. So we will just start off in Africa. We will start doing our research there and will eliminate most of the Africans because they are deplorable, they are worthless. They are not part of this world economies. Their rights are taken away and suppressed and experimented on (sic),” Young said during the panel described as testimonies from experts.’

Screenshot of the video claim 

Claim Verification:

A Google reverse image search of the video screenshot returned various sources that debunked the claim in the video as false, such as here and here.

A keyword search for “Bill Gates plan to reduce population in Africa” on Google also returned other sources that flagged the claim as false such as here.

However, the search returned an interview Bill Gates did with the Financial Times, in 2018 where he talked about population growth and poverty reduction in Africa. Gates spoke about Africa’s population growth, which would see the number of people in extreme poverty go up if investment in human capital and improvement in healthcare services are not done to reduce it. He did not say the three billion people needed to be eliminated.

Further, according to media reports, in 2010 at a TED Talk conference dubbed “Innovating to Zero” Bill Gates presented his vision for the global energy future. He talked about the growth of the global population and the need to lower it through investment in health. He is not quoted as having made the statement under our investigation. 

“Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by, perhaps, 10 or 15 percent. But there, we see an increase of about 1.3,” reads an excerpt from Bill Gates’ speech as transcribed from minute 4:17.

Who is Doctor Robert O. Young?

211 Check made several queries about Young on Google, which show that he is seemingly a naturopathic practitioner who was convicted of practising medicine without a licence in 2018 and was ordered to pay $105 million to a woman diagnosed with cancer which he falsely promised to cure. This is one among criminal charges as per media reports.

In 2020, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also warned Young to stop advertising unsubstantiated or scientifically unproven products he claimed for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

Conclusion:

The claim that Bill Gates’ plan to eliminate the three billion people is not true and there is no evidence that he made such a statement. 

On the other hand, Young’s credibility as a medical expert is in question having been accused of practising medicine without a licence.

This fact check was published by 211 Check with technical support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck newsdesk through the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA).

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