Conservative bogeyman and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates has been pilloried throughout the pandemic as critics take aim at his vocal support for COVID-19 vaccines. 

But an arrest warrant hasn’t been issued for the philanthropist. Social media posts claim otherwise.

“Bill Gates arrest warrant issued in Philippines for ‘premeditated murder’ linked to vaccine roll out,” one March 4 Instagram post says. It adds that “The Heinous Crimes Court” in Manila, Philippines, issued the warrant on grounds that the COVID-19 vaccine led to “hundreds of thousands of people dying unnecessarily.”

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

A spokesperson for Gates told PolitiFact that no warrant has been issued. Diane Desierto, a University of Notre Dame law professor who taught at the University of the Philippines College of Law, further told Reuters that there’s “no such thing as a Heinous Crimes Court” in the Philippines.

The “Heinous Crime Court” doesn’t appear on a government list of courts in the Philippines nor could we find any credible news stories or other sources corroborating claims that such a court exists, or issued a warrant because Gates was suspected of murdering hundreds of thousands of people. 

Serious side effects from COVID-19 vaccines are “possible but extremely rare,” the World Health Organization says. The Department of Health in the Philippines doesn’t mandate vaccines, but “highly encourages” people to get vaccinated and says on its website that “vaccination is an important way to protect yourself from getting severe COVID-19.” 

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