Fact Check: Bill Gates was accused of stealing Microsoft Software and make money by COVID-19 vaccines

Claim: Interview of Bill Gates where he was accused of stealing Microsoft Software and making money by promoting COVID-19 vaccines.

A video of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates being interviewed by a journalist has gone viral. In the video, the journalist accuses Gates of stealing Microsoft software and promoting COVID-19 vaccines to make billions. She grills him with tough questions, and the interview ends abruptly after Gates appears frustrated. Let’s check the veracity of the video.

An internet search with relevant keywords led us to the Original video of the interview posted on the ABC News (Australia) YouTube channel on 31 January 2023. In this video, Sarah Ferguson is seen interviewing Bill Gates, and they are both wearing the same outfits as in the viral video.

After watching the entire video, we discovered that the anchor never asked Gates the questions seen in the viral video. Instead, she asked him about a range of other topics, including climate change, COVID-19 conspiracy theories, Elon Musk buying Twitter, Gates’ association with Jeffrey Epstein, his philanthropic activities, and the rise of artificial intelligence.

Viral Video was created using DeepFake Technology:

The viral video was posted on the TikTok account ’bdti989’ but it was later deleted. The archived version can be seen here. This account also posted several deep fake videos of Popular figures like Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden, etc.

Deepfake technology refers to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to create highly convincing fake images, videos, and audio recordings. These synthetic media are designed to appear real and are created by training algorithms on large sets of existing data such as images, videos, and audio recordings. The resulting content can be used to manipulate or deceive people by making it appear as if someone said or did something they did not. To know more about Deepfakes and their detection, click here.

To sum it up, the viral video doesn’t show a real interview with Bill Gates. It is created deep fake technology.

Fact: DeepFake Technology was used to create this viral video. On January 31, 2023, Gates was questioned about climate change, COVID-19 conspiracy theories, the rise of artificial intelligence, and other topics in the original video, which was posted on the YouTube channel of ABC News (Australia). Subsequently, the case made in the post is FALSE.