Narrative Attack Analysis: Coordinated Campaigns Are Targeting Bill Gates

Bill Gates recently stated that online narrative attacks are urgent problems. In a recent interview with CNBC, the Microsoft co-founder was clear that “the problem isn’t going away, either: It’s already far too easy for false information to spread to the billions of people actively using the internet. And, if you catch it a day later, the harm is done.”

The Blackbird.AI team agrees that narrative attacks are an urgent dilema. The World Economic Forum also agrees, concluding it would be the top global risk in 2024 and 2025. But we don’t think it is unsolvable. This blog responds to Bill Gates’s statement by demonstrating how our AI-based Narrative Intelligence Platform protects global brands and national security organizations from narrative attacks created by narrative attacks.

By sharing the analysis of the harmful narratives impacting Bill Gates, we can demonstrate how to protect against the misinformation and narrative attack problem by gaining visibility into harmful narratives impacting him, the influence behind them, the networks they touch, the anomalous behavior that scales them, and the cohorts and communities that connect them. Knowing the narrative enables you to make better strategic decisions, create and deploy counter-narratives, and significantly reduce their risk and impact.

The Blackbird.AI team has been focused on this since our inception based on our mission: To empower trust, safety, and integrity across the global information ecosystem. To show we are having a real-world impact, one of our largest international customers told us recently, “We felt hopeless about this problem until we started working with Blackbird.AI.”

LEARN MORE: What Is Narrative Intelligence?

For years, harmful and outlandish narratives targeting Bill Gates have flooded niche and traditional social media platforms like never before, portraying him as a leader of a global elite seeking to harm the world. This trend intensified sharply during and after the pandemic, making Bill Gates the target of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, transcending various echo chambers, and undermining vital health efforts in the US and abroad. With AI-generated deepfakes and narrative attacks, it is now easier than ever for threat actors, hyper agenda-driven influencers, and nation-states to create narrative attack campaigns that are more believable and more challenging to detect, causing massive financial, operational, and reputational harm to individuals (like Bill Gates) and organizations across the globe.

Blackbird.AI’s RAV3N Narrative Intelligence and Research Team isolated and analyzed the most prominent narratives targeting Bill Gates in nearly 500,000 online conversations on traditional social media and chat platforms, the news and the dark web – focusing on coordination, inauthentic activity, and narrative attacks. Drawing on insights from Blackbird.AI’s Constellation Narrative Intelligence Platform and Compass by Blackbird.AI, the RAV3N Narrative Intelligence team dissected some of the top harmful narratives seeking to influence public opinion with fear-mongering claims that Bill Gates has invented pandemics, wants to depopulate the world starting with Africa, impose AI-driven mass surveillance, is connected to trafficking networks, or threatens the agricultural industry and the environment. These harmful narratives have been ranked by post volume.

Narrative 1: Bill Gates invented COVID-19 to force vaccination

Nearly 65,000 posts in several languages – such as English, Spanish, and French – asserted that Bill Gates should be jailed for allegedly injuring and murdering populations by inventing COVID-19 with the help of “Big Pharma” and China during Event 201, a high-level pandemic exercise he hosted in 2019. This narrative frequently accused Gates of spreading misinformation surrounding the safety of an allegedly lethal, experimental vaccination agenda composed of microchips to enrich himself. These posts used similar messaging, including nearly 30% negative sentiment, alleging that the pandemic is a biological weapon and that Gates is a pathological liar and a con man guilty of a crime against humanity. French-speaking foreign malign influencers exploited an existing hyper-agenda echo chamber–comprising nearly 40% of post volume–by reinforcing their calls for Gates’ arrest.

LEARN MORE: Fighting Fiction with Facts: Your Quick Guide to Narrative Attacks

In addition, the same cohorts disseminated nearly 15,000 posts claiming that Gates is closely linked to the World Economic Forum (WEF), its founder Klaus Schwab, and the World Health Organization (WHO) – framing them as criminal elites seeking to take over the US. Some posts added an AI-generated image of Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab, and George Soros with devil horns to bolster this argument. The word “globalist” was detected in 15% of this sub-narrative to amplify the well-known conspiracy that malicious agents are attempting to form a new world government known as the “New World Order” through the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This rhetoric was primarily spread in Spanish and Portuguese and affiliated with high levels of abnormal activity, indicating the presence of a coordinated campaign using conspiratorial hashtags such as #Gates and #WEF. While the Gates Foundation’s involvement in global health is well-documented, the implications of control or undue influence on health organizations are speculative and unsupported by concrete evidence.

Narrative 2: Bill Gates wants to control and censor anti-vaxxers using AI-driven surveillance 

In over 27,000 posts, a well-known network of harmful actors distorted Bill Gates’ discussion on the potential role of AI in moderating online misinformation as a desire to censor free speech and anti-vaxxers who “speak the truth” in regards to alleged COVID-19 vaccine crimes. The Gates Foundation’s work on digital ID systems, such as MOSIP, focuses on inclusivity and privacy, aiming to improve access to services for disadvantaged populations and are not linked to global surveillance or control of anti-vaccine movements. The spread of these conspiracy theories often results from a misinterpretation of Gates’ public health and anti-misinformation initiatives.

LEARN MORE: Unlocking the Power of Narrative Intelligence

Anti-vaxxers accounted for nearly 20% of the post volume in this narrative, which was associated with moderate levels of bot-like amplification.

Narrative 3: Bill Gates leverages a #climatescam to buy up vast tracts of US farmland, harming the agricultural industry and Americans’ health

This narrative maintained traction on traditional social media platforms throughout the period analyzed, with over 15,000 posts portraying Bill Gates as a threat to the farming and food industries. Anti-vaxxers – who represented 20% of post volume – asserted that Gates used climate change as a pretext to impose a farming monopoly and promote harmful genetically modified organisms, food filled with “poisonous mRNA vaccines,” and unhealthy, ultra-processed artificial meat. These posts often incited their audience to grow their food or buy local produce from “independent farmers” to avoid an alleged food crisis triggered by Gates’ “climate change hysteria.”

The same hostile network targeted Gates in over 13,000 posts for declaring tree planting as a solution to climate change ineffective. It claimed that the philanthropist vilified the idea because it was not profitable for him. Hyper-agenda-driven communities, comprising over half of the posts, leveraged this narrative to organically amplify rhetoric that climate change is an invention to increase billionaires’ profits – along with the hashtag #ClimateCrusade. Another line of conversation dismissed the philanthropist’s statement, using the fact that he left Harvard University to discredit him as a “college dropout” who knows nothing regarding the environment. 

Narrative 4: Bill Gates wants to exterminate Africa

Foreign malign influence was identified in over 15% of this narrative, with nearly 14,000 posts spamming similar messaging that the Gates Foundation seeks to give “prenatal vitamins” and force DTP vaccination on pregnant women and children in Africa to microchip them or pursue Gates’ depopulation agenda (see Narrative 6). In that regard, the DTP vaccine was frequently cited as the number-one vaccine administered in Africa, allegedly discontinued in the US and Europe for “seriously injuring or killing one in three hundred patients” and thus the “perfect stealth tool for maximum population control without raising suspicion.” Similarly, posts targeting an anti-imperialist African audience asserted that Bill Gates “played god” with agricultural investments in Africa and allegedly contributed to a hunger crisis by forcing countries such as Kenya to criminalize traditional farming and adopt expensive GMO foods that poison soils. Actors known for foreign malign information operations in Africa leveraged this claim to shame African leaders into meeting the philanthropist–framed as a danger to the continent–and succeeded in reaching targeted audiences who also spread this narrative.

Posts also claimed that the Gates Foundation was responsible for the dengue outbreaks and similar diseases in African countries by deliberately spreading genetically modified mosquitoes. While the Gates Foundation funded research to eradicate malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever through genetically modified mosquitoes, these mosquitoes cannot carry these diseases. 

In this narrative, threat actors sought to influence public perception by demonizing legitimate Western philanthropic health and agricultural initiatives in Africa – frequently citing countries such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, Senegal, and Botswana. By doing so, they exacerbated anti-Western sentiment and undermined trust in these programs to fulfill a political agenda.

LEARN MORE: Communication Leaders Narrative Attack Readiness Checklist

Narrative 5: Bill Gates is linked to high-profile sex-trafficking cases

Over 10,000 conspiratorial social media posts claimed that Bill Gates is linked to Jeffrey Epstein and Sean John Combs’ (also known by the stage name Diddy) sex trafficking cases – with posts expressing disgust accounting for over 40% of this narrative. Specifically, hyper-agenda-driven communities used alarmist language to assert that Gates “hung out” with Epstein over thirty times on his island after he was convicted as a sexual offender to raise money for vaccines. This hostile network also leveraged Epstein’s pilot testimony to Gates’ presence on the financier’s plane to call for his arrest and to reject all his public health initiatives. Unverified allegations that Diddy named Bill Gates his hero – portrayed as evidence that the philanthropist is somehow involved in the same crimes – also contributed to the narrative’s high engagement. 

Narrative 6: Bill Gates wants to depopulate the world 

Over 20% of bot-like activity was detected on mainstream social media platforms related to debunked claims that Bill Gates has decided to depopulate the world – with hyper-agenda-driven communities framing him as evil. This hostile network exploited this conspiracy theory in over 7,000 posts to assert that the philanthropist is untrustworthy. Social media posts also referenced Gates’ latest Netflix show, “What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates,” as revealing all the details of this alleged depopulation plan to reduce the human population to a billion. This widely debunked conspiracy theory often misinterprets and takes out of context Gates’ statements related to improving global health and reducing infant mortality through vaccines and healthcare to suggest the existence of a sinister agenda. While this narrative did not outgrow the echo chamber in which it originated, it sought to exploit public fears and misunderstandings of global health initiatives and the role of influential figures such as Gates.

Hyper-agenda-driven communities also leveraged Gates’ prediction of a likely new global pandemic in the next twenty-five years in nearly 1,000 posts, paraphrased in multiple languages to assert that he will be responsible for “releasing a new pathogen.” In addition, these posts frequently distorted the philanthropist’s concern with incriminating language claiming that he “needs,” “announced,” or “proposed” a new pandemic, bolstering rhetoric that imprisoning him would reduce this risk.

LEARN MORE: Social Media Narrative Attack Readiness and Response Checklist

Narrative 7: Bill Gates bought a hot dog in New York City, showing that no one should follow his health advice

This conversation constituted nearly 8,000 posts in several languages, as hyper-agenda-driven communities negatively reacted to news that Bill Gates had been spotted in Times Square eating a hot dog on September 27. Harmful actors exploited this news to discredit Gates from multiple perspectives– portraying him as “weird” and “unhealthy”–or to revive existing conspiracy theories, notably that eating a hot dog indicates links with pedophile networks (see Narrative 5). Several posts highlighted that he allegedly wore a UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development badge, seen as a sign validating the “New World Order” conspiracy theory (see Narrative 1). In addition, other posts sought to portray this public appearance as a failed attempt to “seem down to earth” and improve his image when he is supposedly engaged in plans to depopulate the earth (see Narrative 6).

Narrative 8: Bill Gates seeks to block the sun and manipulate the weather

One of the smallest narratives identified in the period analyzed, with less than 1,000 posts, misrepresented Bill Gates’ funding of solar geoengineering research–specifically, a Harvard University project called the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx). While the project aims to gather data on the possibility of using aerosols to reflect sunlight into space to mitigate global warming, hyper-agenda-driven communities spread debunked claims that the project represents a scheme to “block out the sun.” 

Another line of conversation linked the philanthropist to the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) – a scientific research program that has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories – to claim that Gates used HAARP to cause Hurricane Helene in September. However, experts and scientific evidence have consistently refuted allegations that HAARP can manipulate weather or create natural disasters such as hurricanes. 

Narrative 9: Bill Gates calls Ukraine “big, fat, corrupt sinkhole”

In March 2023, foreign malign influencers targeting US and NATO military support to Ukraine widely circulated a clip on alternative and traditional social media platforms showing Bill Gates allegedly declaring that “Ukraine is a big, fat, corrupt sinkhole.” The video quickly went viral, with over 141,000 views. Although the clip is authentic and was made during a discussion at the Lowy Institute in January 2023, it deliberately misrepresented Gates’ statement by deleting the part in which the philanthropist referred to “pre-war” Ukraine as “one of the worst in the world, corrupt, controlled by a few rich people” and praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s current leadership. This common tactic employed by foreign malign threat actors is especially effective in propagating well-known narratives attempting to malign Ukraine into ideologically driven online communities. 

Caption: This claim was checked by Compass by Blackbird.AI.

Narrative 10: Bill Gates is getting fat

Less than 1,000 posts on traditional social media shared an alleged image of Bill Gates gaining weight along with claims that this is due to his supposed consumption of “lab-grown meat” – generating over 330,000 views. 

Compass by Blackbird.AI’s vision analysis assessed a 100% confidence that this image is a deepfake. The man’s body proportions appear unnatural, particularly the exaggerated belly size disproportionate to his limbs. Additionally, shadows and lighting do not align correctly, while the overall skin texture lacks natural variation – suggesting digital manipulation. Hyper-agenda-driven communities leveraged this AI-generated image to bolster speculative rhetoric that Bill Gates’ investments in lab-grown meat companies to support sustainable food are unhealthy. Claims about lab-grown meat causing health issues, such as cancer, have been debunked as misinformation, with no scientific studies supporting such assertions. 

LEARN MORE: 8 Ways for Security Leaders to Protect Organizations from Narrative Attacks

Narrative 11: AI is the first technology that has no limits, according to Bill Gates

On September 28, over 200 US social media users shared Gates’ statement, “AI is the first technology that has no limit, and it will do both white and blue-collar jobs in the next decade.” He raised concerns about whether governments can respond quickly enough to these changes. While automation can potentially disrupt traditional employment structures and pose significant ethical challenges outpacing regulatory developments, Gates says AI also includes tremendous benefits that could help reduce global inequalities—particularly in the health and educational sectors. 

The Way Forward – Five Key Takeaways For Organization Leaders

Visibility into Harmful Narratives: Protecting against misinformation and narrative attacks requires understanding the key narratives, their origins, and their influence. Leaders must gain insight into the stories targeting their organization or public figures connected to it.

Impact of Coordinated Campaigns: Narrative attack campaigns can cause substantial harm by spreading false claims. For example, narratives targeting Bill Gates have amplified fear and mistrust through organized, inauthentic activities that spread widely across social media platforms.

Identifying Key Narratives and Tactics: By isolating harmful narratives—such as those framing Gates as promoting harmful global agendas—leaders can better assess the tactics used by malign actors, like bot amplification and echo-chamber exploitation, and respond accordingly.

Monitoring Inauthentic Amplification: Narrative threats often involve artificial amplification by bots and coordinated networks. Organizations should monitor these activities to counter misinformation before it escalates and impacts public opinion and trust.

Leveraging Narrative Intelligence Tools: Tools like Blackbird.AI’s Constellation Narrative Intelligence Platform can help leaders proactively detect and analyze narrative attacks, make informed decisions, and deploy counternarratives to mitigate risks.

Discerning the context behind narrative attacks is more crucial than ever, especially as information manipulation targets public health and climate change. Blackbird.AI offers comprehensive solutions to arm organizations, civil society, journalists, and individuals against the damaging effects of narrative attacks. BLACKBIRD.AI’s Narrative Intelligence Platform – identifies key narratives that impact your organization/industry, the influence behind them, the networks they touch, the anomalous behavior that scales them, and the cohorts and communities that connect them. This information enables organizations to proactively understand narrative threats as they scale and become harmful for better strategic decision-making and ensure that narrative attacks never damages the well-being of our societies. 

By sharing what is possible in this blog post, we believe that there is a way forward to protect against this unsolvable problem.

To learn more about how Blackbird.AI can help you in these situations, book a demo.