Bill Gates Doesn't Benefit From SaveTheChildren
The Claim
Bill Gates is benefitting from the viral #SaveTheChildren hashtag, which has been coopted by QAnon.
News posted on
Emerging story
In mid-August 2020, social media users began claiming that Bill Gates runs the #SaveTheChildren hashtag.
Informed Mothers, a conspiracy group on Facebook, claimed that Bill Gates runs the Save the Children Fund. In response, they started their own hashtag, #SaveOurChildren.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that the theory relies upon a few assumptions that are simply untrue.
Save the Children is not operated by Bill Gates. He is not on the board of directors, nor does he have any role in the organization’s administration. While his charity donates to the organization, he is far from the only one.
The hashtags #SaveTheChildren and #SaveOurChildren have recently been coopted by conspiracy group QAnon, which ostensibly wants to end child trafficking. However, as we’ve reported on in depth, QAnon also believes that U.S. President Donald Trump is fighting Satanist pedophilic celebrities and politicians. Their conspiracy theories are completely unfounded, meaning that the new hashtags are completely unrelated to the Save the Children humanitarian charitable group. As Whitney Philips, co-author of the book You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories and Our Polluted Media Landscape, said about QAnon: "This is not about child protection. This is about a conspiracy theory that's trying to couch itself in other terms to get more people involved and sympathetic.”
Furthermore, nobody profits from hashtags. The more people that use hashtags, the more popular it gets.
