Bill Gates has spoken of his surprise over the "evil and crazy" conspiracy theories made about him during the pandemic...
Because we all know how hard this pandemic has been on us all!
And believe it or not, billionaire and Microsoft founder Bill Gates has had a little bit of difficulty himself during these turbulent times.
A whole range of conspiracy theories have been circulating online about Gates over the last year...
The majority of which have been fuelling misinformation about coronavirus, its origins, and the motives of those working to fight it.
And now...
Gates has decided to speak out about the "crazy and evil" conspiracy theories that have been spread about him.
Now, regardless of these theories, there is absolutely no denying that Bill Gates is one very successful guy.
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But how?
Well, he doesn't have the shabbiest of resumes; he is the co-founder of Microsoft, and is now one of the richest men in the world, with his net worth coming in at around $120 billion dollars, according to Forbes.
Microsoft has grown to become one of the largest and most successful tech companies in the world...
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Mainly because the company wrote and developed one of the most-used computer software in the world!
According to Forbes, Microsoft is the third biggest company in the world, with an estimated worth of $947 billion dollars.
Not bad for a college dropout, right?
Yep, Bill Gates never actually graduated. He initially left Seattle and enrolled at Harvard University in the fall of 1973, aiming for a career in law after pressure from his parents. However, Gates would spend more time in the computer lab than he would in class, and he rarely studied for his exams.He dropped out of college in 1975...
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Because college life really isn't for everyone! A mere 2 years after enrolling, Gates left Harvard and re-joined his partner, Paul Allen, whom he had started a small computer company with when he was just fifteen.Cue the birth of Microsoft.
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Fast forward a couple of years and the pair had created their company, Microsoft. The name Microsoft came from a blend of the words "micro-computer" and "software," and was officially launched in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1976.Microsoft went from strength to strength.
After nearly ten years of writing and developing the Microsoft operating systems, the company released its crowning achievement in 1985: Microsoft Windows.And he didn't stop there.
Gates, who became Microsoft's standing CEO, took the company to new heights and continued to release ground-breaking software and operational systems for computers.
For the next few decades, Microsoft continued to do astonishing things.
Their first gaming console being one of them.
Though the initial 2001 version of the Xbox was met with fierce competition from Sony, their re-release of the updated Xbox 360 in 2005 was a major success, and brought joy and delight to gamers across the globe.
So, as you can see, Gates' net worth is somewhat deserved...
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And he is incredibly generous with his wealth! It is estimated that he has given away around $45 billion over the years to his and his wife's charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which primarily works to combat global poverty. Their work has saved millions of lives.The Gates' have also donated a lot of money in the last year toward the devastating coronavirus pandemic.
In August 2020, the wealthy couple donated a staggering $150 million to the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India, to provide up to 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to poorer nations priced at less than $3 a dose.
Although this was an insanely generous donation...
And a clear sign that Gates wanted to help combat the virus, this didn't stop the spread of some shocking conspiracy theories online.
Since the pandemic began over a year ago, millions of conspiracies have spread over the internet fuelling misinformation about COVID, its origins, and the motives of those working to fight it.
Many included claims that Gates and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the president, "created" the pandemic to try and control people.
It was also claimed that Gates wanted to profit from the pandemic...
Imagine if all the "Bill Gates is going to microchip us with the vaccine!" Folks put their energy into fighting this instead ?
— 😩☁️ (@WearySky) January 24, 2021
And that he wanted to use vaccines to insert "trackable microchips" into people.
Yep, you really can't make these things up!
It all started to get out of hand...
Am loving the conspiracy theory of bill gates using his private jet to spread COVID in the atmosphere and be the case zero originator around the world.
— Matthew Worner (@matthewworner) January 23, 2021
And even though it was clear that a vast majority knew that these conspiracies were just a load of made-up nonsense, the amount of people spreading them on the internet was rather alarming.
Well, a few months on from all the conspiracy madness, Gates has finally spoken out about it all.
During an interview with Reuters this week, the billionaire said the millions of online posts and "crazy conspiracy theories" about him and about Dr. Anthony Fauci had likely taken hold in part because of the combination of a frightening viral pandemic and the rise of social media.
He's just as surprised as we all are!
"Nobody would have predicted that I and Dr. Fauci would be so prominent in these really evil theories," Gates said.
"I'm very surprised by that. I hope it goes away."
