A post shared on Facebook claims Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that “the public must be silenced” so that they will buy his vaccine.

Verdict: False

There is no record of Gates making the statement.

Fact Check:

Gates has been the target of numerous rumors related to vaccinations. The latest example appears to come from a Facebook post that shares a link to a video clip titled, “Bill Gates Says The Public Must Be Silenced.” The video is a 75-second segment from a July interview Gates did with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin.

“Bill Gates says if the public is allowed to communicate, they won’t buy his vaccine,” reads text below the video. (RELATED: Is Bill Gates Related To Ghislaine Maxwell?)

The Daily Caller News Foundation could not find any evidence, such as social media messages or posts on his blog Gates Notes, to support the claim that he said “the public must be silenced.” A review of the CNBC interview in its entirety revealed Gates made no comment about wanting to silence the public. Instead, he discusses the ways in which the spread of misinformation has been exacerbated by social media.

“When you let people communicate, you have to deal with the fact that certain incorrect things that are very titillating can spread very rapidly compared to the truth,” Gates said. “And we’ve always seen that with vaccines.”

Gates goes on to discuss the difficulties social media platforms can face while trying to mitigate the spread of misinformation without infringing on “political speech or a valid discussion about the safety issues.” The acknowledgement of the complexities of monitoring misinformation on social media platforms does not equate to saying “the public must be silenced.”

At no point in this clip, or throughout the interview does Gates say that “the public must be silenced,” and the DCNF found no credible record he has made such a suggestion. We rate this claim false.

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