DISINFO: Bill Gates wants to implant microchips in people's heads
SUMMARY
Donald Trump’s former adviser, Roger Stone, suggested that Bill Gates might have had a hand in creating the Coronavirus and spreading the pandemic around the world, so Gates could implant microchips in people’s heads to distinguish between those who are tested for COVID-19 and enforce mandatory vaccinations.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring conspiracy theory on the coronavirus mainly popularised by anti-vaxxers who continue to find support in pro-Kremlin outlets.
Roger Stone Jr., is a former associate to the current American President. He was recently sentenced to 40 months in prison for felonies related to Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.
Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist, who is now the star of an explosion of conspiracy theories, has mentioned health certificates in a discussion but this has nothing to do with alleged ID2020 microchips. Later, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told Reuters, “The reference to ‘digital certificates’ relates to efforts to create an open-source digital platform with the goal of expanding access to safe, home-based testing".
Digital certificates are used to send encrypted information over the internet, as in the common case of electronic signatures which are used to verify identity. They were officially defined by what is now called the Telecommunication Standardisation Sector in 1988 and have always been virtual, not physical.
The claim that Gates has a link with the ”creation” of coronavirus is based on the fact that the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” finance some research projects of Pirbright Institute, a centre of excellence in research and surveillance of virus diseases of farm animals and viruses that spread from animals to humans, based in the UK. On 24 January 2020, the Pirbright institute posted a press release explaining that the organisation has no link with the new COVID.