A leaked video featuring Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates briefing a CIA team about mind altering drugs for religious fanatics, has gone viral on social media. Not only is the video a hoax, but also the person briefing the officials is not Gates.
The conspiracy mill has always worked overtime when it comes to Gates and his association with research and the scientific field. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has recently been embroiled in controversies regarding Covid-19 vaccine trials.
What is Shown in the Viral video?
In the four-minute viral video which is being circulated widely on social media sites, including Twitter, a person is seen giving a presentation to a roomful of audience.
"Bill Gates Briefing to CIA" is flashed throughout the entire duration of the video. While the date mentioned in the video is April 1, 2005, the location is Pentagon Room BC232. The fake video, reshared extensively on various websites and social media platforms, carries the caption: "Bill Gates presentations to CIA in brief, video discusses a PLANNED viral outbreak that would be followed up by vaccination program. vaccine to be the carrier for genetic modification chemical that would modify central brain of RELIGIOUS FANATICS"
The man in the video is presenting a slideshow on the VMAT2, also called God gene, and a vaccine called FunVac or FunVax to eliminate it. VMAT2 is the scientific name for vesicular monoamine transporter 2, a protein that carries neurotransmitters such as dopamine, encoded in humans by the SLC18A2 gene,
The video includes discussion about religious fundamentalists posing a lesser degree of threat if they receive this vaccine. The presenter in the video further claims that the proposal for the plan has just been submitted before concluding by stating that the project has great promise.
At one point, the video shows two sets of brain scans classified as religious brain and non-religious brain. In its report in 2011, Metabunk traced back the scans to a 2010 case article on neurology.org titled "A case of confusion and bilateral temporal lesions in a young woman." Both images in the video use the brain scan labelled B in the article, and add some red and yellow coloring, to imply the brain scan of a religious person.
Presence of Bill Gates in the Video Debunked
Despite the video having been in circulation for a long time now, Gates' name was associated with it only this year. Snopes stated that a higher quality version of the video also made it clear that the presenter is neither Gates nor does it resemble him.
In an email sent to Reuters, a spokesperson for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation confirmed that the video does not show Gates. The wire service further stated that the video may have been inspired by the book "The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired into Our Genes" by Dr Dean Hamer. The book discusses how "a variation in the VMAT2 gene plays a role in one's openness to spiritual experiences".
Snopes reported that the video was not "leaked" from the Pentagon but was rather created for an uncompleted film project from director Ryan Harper called "FunVax." The video was spread to promote the film project, and that the general "God gene theory was unproven", stated the publication.
