CLAIM: Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates abruptly pulled out of the 2023 World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Gates was never confirmed to attend this year’s forum, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said in a statement provided to The Associated Press.
THE FACTS: As the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos opened this week, claims spread widely across social media platforms that high-profile people including Gates were suddenly pulling out of the event, suggesting it was a sign that something was amiss.
“EXCLUSIVE: Bill Gates has also pulled out of the WEF23 meeting in Davos,” one Twitter user wrote Monday in a post that received more than 10,000 likes. “BREAKING: Bill Gates did not show up to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos,” another user wrote on Telegram.
But Gates was never slated to attend this year’s meeting in Davos, according to a statement provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“This claim is false,” the statement reads. “Bill was never confirmed to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2023.”
There is no other evidence to suggest that Gates was set to appear at this year’s conference as he did in 2022. He does not appear on the online program for the 2023 event, and was not featured in a list of prominent people set to participate in the meeting that was released by the WEF in November.
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