Billionaire business magnate and philanthropist Bill Gates, on Thursday, July 23, denied conspiracy theories accusing him of synthesizing coronavirus.

In an interview with CNN Townhall, the Microsoft founder said “It’s a bad combination of pandemic and social media and people looking for a very simple explanation.”

A series of photos and news articles have been circulating on social media platforms and messaging apps, in various languages saying that Gates has gained momentum online since the beginning of the pandemic.

A video accusing Gates of wanting “to eliminate 15 per cent of the world population” through vaccination and electronic microchips has attracted millions of views on YouTube.

Responding to this, Gates said his foundation has given more money to buy vaccines to save lives than any group.”

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He has pledged $250 million in efforts to fight the pandemic, and his foundation has spent billions of dollars improving health care in developing countries over the past 20 years, CNN disclosed.

“So you just turn that around. You say, ok, we’re making money and we’re trying to kill people with vaccines or by inventing something.

“And at least it’s true, we’re associated with vaccines, but you actually have sort of flipped the connection, I hope the conspiracies don’t generate ‘vaccine hesitancy’,” he added.

In other news, Eons Intelligence, on Thursday reported that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $1 million to help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

The fund was received on Tuesday, July 21, by a UN finance support platform called ‘One UN COVID-19 Response Basket Fund.’ 

Since the beginning of the crisis, AFP Fact Check has debunked dozens of anti-Gates rumours circulating on platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram in languages including English, French, Spanish, Polish and Czech.

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A number of accusations, including posts claiming that the FBI arrested Gates for biological terrorism or that he supports a Western plot to poison Africans, share a common thread.

Gates was accused of exploiting the crisis to control people or make money from selling vaccines.

“I’m a big believer in getting the truth out,” Gates told CNN.

In the past, Bill Gates had been targeted by conspiracy theorists. When Zika virus broke out in 2015 in Brazil, he was one of several powerful Western personalities held responsible for the outbreak of the epidemic.

FactCheck.org reports that some media outlets, including Fox News, The Ecologist and The Daily Mail spread the rumour. Some websites, such as Natural News, also said that Bill Gates was involved. 

The Gates name was probably included because the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided $19.7 million for a project to develop and test GM mosquitoes, according to Science.

Other rumours claim he is secretly a lizard, an old favourite among online trolls.