When the leaders of the Group of 20 – an international organization that brings together representatives of the world’s biggest economies – met for their annual summit earlier this month, Russia's invasion of Ukraine dominated many conversations.
Some social media users, though, are claiming Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates spoke at the event and predicted "death panels" would soon be necessary because of the high cost of health care.
"Bill Gates tells G-20 world leaders that 'death panels' will soon be required," reads the headline of a Nov. 15 article by News Punch, a website that has previously published misinformation.
"Unelected world health czar Bill Gates has used his appearance at the G-20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, to raise a discussion about 'death panels,'" the article says. "According to Gates, death panels will be necessary in the near future to end the lives of sick and unwell people due to 'very, very high medical costs.'"
A Nov. 17 Instagram post includes a screenshot of the article and a video of Gates speaking about the cost of end-of-life health care.
But the claim is false. Gates was not present at the recent G-20 meeting. The video in the post is from 2010 and does not show Gates saying death panels would “soon be required.”
News Punch did not respond to a request for comment. The social media user who shared the post could not be reached for comment.
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