New Delhi:
A video was recently shared on social media with users claiming that it showed Microsoft co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates visiting the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that the person in the video, claimed to be Gates, was actually a foreign tourist. The social media posts were shared with a false claim.
Claim
An X (formerly Twitter) user shared on January 14 a video claiming it showed Microsoft co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates visiting the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.
Here is the link and archive link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the same.
Investigation
The Desk ran the video through the InVid Tool Search and found a few keyframes. On running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk found that the same video was shared by several other users with similar claims. Two such posts can be seen here and here, and their archive versions can be found here and here, respectively.
Some users had also shared the video (viral since December 2024), claiming it to be from Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj. Here is a link to one such post.
The Desk then conducted a customised keyword search on Google but didn’t find any substantial report, corroborating the viral claim. Had gates visited India, the news would have grabbed the headlines.
The Desk also scanned the social media handles of the former Microsoft CEO, but did not find anything about him visiting India recently. The last time Gates posted anything about his visit to India was in March 2024.
On his website ‘Gates Notes’, he wrote a blog dated March 5, 2024, detailing about his experience of visit to India. Here is the link to the blog and below is a screenshot of the same:
To further corroborate the claim made on social media, the Desk contacted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which termed the claim as false.
“This claim is false,” the Media Relations Department of Gates Foundation told PTI Fact Check in an email response.
During the investigation, the Desk geolocated a keyframe of the viral video and found that it was from Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi.
Here is the link to the Google Maps location, and below is the screenshot of the same.
The combination image below highlights that the viral video was also from Varanasi’s Manikarnika Ghat.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that the person seen in the viral video was falsely identified as former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.
CLAIM
Bill Gates recently visited Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.
FACT
The man in the viral video is not Bill Gates.
CONCLUSION
Multiple social media users shared a video claiming that it showed former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates visiting the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi. The Desk found in its investigation that the man in the video was not Bill Gates. The video was shared on social media with a false claim.
(This story was originally published by PTI, and republished by The Hindkesharias part of the Shakti Collective)
