流行の黒幕説も…ビル・ゲイツ氏、新型コロナ陰謀論の標的に

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】新型コロナウイルスの流行が始まって以来、米マイクロソフトの共同創業者で慈善活動に熱心なことで知られる富豪のビル・ゲイツ氏を標的にした誤った主張が、インターネット上で増加している。専門家らは、こうした流言飛語は新型ウイルス感染予防対策を妨げる可能性があると警告をしている。（写真は米マイクロソフトの共同創業者、ビル・ゲイツ氏）
　陰謀論者らが作成した加工写真や偽ニュース記事の中には、ゲイツ氏が新型ウイルス流行の黒幕だと非難するものもある。
　世界保健機関（ＷＨＯ）は、新型ウイルスによるパニックと混乱が巻き起こしたデマを「インフォデミック」と呼び、対処を続けている。だが、新型ウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）対策のために２億５０００万ドル（約２７０億円）の寄付を約束したゲイツ氏は、このインフォデミックの最新の標的になってしまった。
　偽ニュースの研究とジャーナリスト向けの研修を提供する非営利団体「ファースト・ドラフト」の研究部門責任者ローリー・スミス氏は、「ビル・ゲイツ氏は常に、ある種の陰謀論者の標的になってきた」と語る。
　ゲイツ氏の「ビル＆メリンダ・ゲイツ財団」は過去２０年以上にわたり、開発途上国の医療向上のために数十億ドル（数千億円）を投じてきたが、同氏は「抽象的な『ブギーマン（子どもをさらうお化け）』のようなもの」になってしまったと話すのは、米ニューヨークのシラキュース大学でデジタル倫理を教えるホイットニー・フィリップス助教だ。
　ゲイツ氏がワクチン接種とマイクロチップによって「人口の１５％を減らすこと」を望んでいると主張するユーチューブ動画は、２００万回近く再生されている。

■新型ウイルス危機を利用？
　新型ウイルス危機が始まって以来、ＡＦＰのファクトチェック部門はフェイスブック、ワッツアップ、インスタグラムなどの媒体で広まっていた多数の「反ゲイツ」のうわさについて、誤りであることを証明してきた。これらのうわさは英語やフランス語、スペイン語、ポーランド語、チェコ語などの多様な言語で広まっていた。
　米連邦捜査局（ＦＢＩ）がバイオテロの容疑でゲイツ氏を逮捕したという主張や、アフリカの人々を毒殺しようとしている欧米諸国の陰謀を同氏が支持しているというものなど、いくつかのデマには共通点がある。一様に、ゲイツ氏が「人々を支配」したり、ワクチンで金もうけしたりするために、新型ウイルス危機を利用していると非難しているのだ。
　フィンランドのヘルシンキ大学で社会科学を研究するキンガ・ポリンチュクアレニウス氏は大学のブログで、ゲイツ氏は表立ってドナルド・トランプ米大統領を批判している他、ワクチンの開発支援もしていると指摘。これによって同氏は「テクノロジーと（医療）科学の交差によって生じた危機において、うってつけのスケープゴート（責任転嫁の対象）」になったと書いている。
　ゲイツ氏が陰謀論者らの犠牲になるのはこれが初めてではない。２０１５年にブラジルでジカウイルスが流行した際には、流行に対する責任があるとして複数の欧米諸国の有力者が非難されたが、この中にゲイツ氏も含まれていた。また、ネットで昔から人気があるうわさには、ゲイツ氏の正体は実はトカゲだったというものもある。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/05/20-12:05）

False claims targeting billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates are gaining traction online since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, with experts warning they could hamper efforts to curb the virus.
Doctored photos and fabricated news articles crafted by conspiracy theorists -- shared thousands of times on social media platforms and messaging apps, in various languages -- have gone as far as accusing the Microsoft founder of creating the outbreak.
Gates, who has pledged $250 million to efforts to fight the pandemic, is the latest in a string of online targets despite the World Health Organization's efforts to fight what it called an infodemic -- misinformation fanned by panic and confusion about the virus.
In recent months, 5G networks and Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros have also been blamed for creating COVID-19, which has killed more than 315,000 people around the world.
Bill Gates has always been a target of specific conspiracy communities, said Rory Smith, research manager at First Draft, a non-profit that provides research and training for journalists.
Gates -- whose eponymous foundation has spent billions of dollars improving healthcare in developing countries over the past 20 years -- has become a kind of abstract boogeyman, said Whitney Phillips, an assistant professor at New York's Syracuse University, where she teaches digital ethics.
A video accusing Gates of wanting to eliminate 15 percent of the population through vaccination and electronic microchips has racked up nearly two million views on YouTube.
Similar allegations exploded between January and April, Smith told AFP.
- Exploiting the crisis -
Since the start 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.
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.
They accuse the tycoon of exploiting the crisis, whether it is to control people or make money from selling vaccines.
These conspiracies are powerful enough to drive down institutional trust around health organisations, and as a result, possibly drive down vaccination rates, which is worrying, Smith said.
Gates' vocal criticism of US President Donald Trump and support for vaccine development made him the perfect scapegoat for a crisis that emerges on the intersection of technology and (medical) science, Kinga Polynczuk-Alenius, a social sciences researcher at Finland's University of Helsinki, wrote in a university blog post.
It is not the first time Gates has found himself at the mercy of conspiracy theorists. When Zika virus broke out in 2015 in Brazil, he was one of several powerful Western figures blamed for the disease.
Other rumours claim that he is secretly a lizard, an old favourite among online trolls.
He hasn't become conspiracists' favourite target, he has been (their favourite target) for a long time, Sylvain Delouvee, a social psychology researcher at France's University of Rennes, told AFP.
- Predicted the pandemic -
The recent explosion in false claims could be explained as a coping mechanism during the global crisis, Smith said.
People are constantly looking for information to make sense out of this reality, and having these conspiracies offers a convenient way of having power over your situation, he said.
The pandemic has also provided fertile breeding ground for attacks on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, particularly by anti-vaccine campaigners whose influential online presence was already brewing years before the virus emerged.
The charity's humanitarian work in Africa, where misinformation about Gates is particularly present, and financial support of the World Health Organization -- it is the agency's second-largest donor -- have fed rumours of dark secrets and ploys for power.
Several widely shared posts point to photographs of Gates attending a coronavirus conference in 2015. Conclusion? He predicted the pandemic.
In reality, he was meeting with a research institute that had filed for a patent to potentially be used for a vaccine against a different type of coronavirus that affects animals.
Like many scientists, Gates had already warned of an imminent pandemic in the years before the novel coronavirus outbreak.
- Conspiracies creeping into mainstream -
Gates has also come under attack from celebrities.
Conservative US television host Laura Ingraham claimed in an interview that Gates was developing tracking mechanisms. She was referring to a widely misinterpreted Reddit post by the billionaire about digital certificates to show who has recovered, been tested or -- eventually -- vaccinated.
Robert Kennedy Jr, the anti-Trump, anti-vaccine nephew of the former American president John F Kennedy, has accused the philanthropist of dictating global health policies.
Meanwhile, French Chocolat actress Juliette Binoche sparked controversy when she posted an Instagram post blasting Gates and calling for the rejection of a microchip implant for all.
Debunking misinformation is not about saying that everyone is a good guy, said Delouvee at France's University of Rennes, pointing to privacy concerns around the race to build coronavirus tracking apps and governments' use of medical data.
The Gates Foundation has come under fire in publications such as The Lancet medical journal, which accused it of a lack of transparency over its financial investments.