Doctored video of ABC 7.30 segment used to promote COVID conspiracy theories

^{By Renee Davidson}

A doctored video viewed tens of thousands of times on social media creates the false impression that ABC journalist Sarah Ferguson accused Microsoft founder Bill Gates of profiting from COVID vaccines.

The fake video shows Ms Ferguson interviewing Mr Gates in an ABC News studio, with the conversation becoming tense before Mr Gates abruptly ends the interview. A caption on the video states: “Bill Gates caught in the corner”.

Tens of thousands of social media users have viewed the video since March 8, 2023, with more than 29,000 people having viewed it on TikTok alone. One such video shared on Facebook recorded more than 1,500 likes and 550 shares, while another on Instagram received more than 4,400 likes. 

But the 1 min 40 sec video is the result of digital alteration using artificial intelligence. Known as a ‘deepfake’, it has used voice cloning to fabricate dialogue over a segment taken from the ABC’s 7.30 program in which Ms Ferguson interviewed Bill Gates. 

The altered content feeds into conspiracy theories shared on social media that allege Mr Gates exploited the pandemic for profit.

"You have been a major spokesperson for COVID vaccines during the pandemic,” Ms Ferguson says in the fake video. “What exactly makes you, a computer engineer who didn’t even programme his initial product himself, a valid representative of the pharmaceutical industry?”

Mr Gates replies that he “had read a lot of books about that topic” and had “met with specialists from the field all over the world”. 

Ms Ferguson then asks: “Mr Gates, with all due respect, how do you feel about it now, now that it’s becoming more and more evident that the medication you were promoting whilst having heavily invested in it yourself thus making billions of it, has caused countless injuries, side effects, and death?” 

The interview becomes argumentative, before Mr Gates ends it abruptly. 

But the conversation never happened. The video has been overlaid with audio that does not match the dialogue in the original interview. 

The original interview aired on January 31, 2023 in an ABC 7.30 segment titled: “Australia has 'huge role to play' in combating climate change, says Bill Gates”. 

In the genuine interview which runs for 12 and a half minutes, Ms Ferguson does not ask the questions heard in the doctored video. Rather, the topics of climate change, pandemic preparedness, philanthropy, artificial intelligence and Mr Gates’ connections to Jeffrey Epstein are discussed. 

Ms Ferguson did in fact discuss COVID vaccines with Mr Gates. Yet in contrast to the fake video, the pair discussed the spread of anti-vax misinformation during the pandemic (4:50 minute mark).

“A virulent conspiracy theory emerged during the pandemic that you were using vaccines, using the vaccine rollout to control people, even to the extent of people claiming you wanted to insert chips inside them,” Ms Ferguson said. “Now a lot of those ideas were spread by tech companies, by platforms owned by tech companies. Did you ever complain to them about those debates going on unchecked?”

Mr Gates replied: “I think every time the question is asked, it helps spread the rumour, so maybe I should complain even more. But I certainly point out false stories when they’re published, or even people who highlight sort of, almost silly misinformation.”

The pair end the interview cordially, unlike in the fake video. 

Furthermore, in the doctored video the lip movements of both Ms Ferguson and Mr Gates are not synchronised with the audio. This is one of several signs to look for in analysing whether dialogue has been cloned, according to the MIT project Detect DeepFakes.   

Voice cloning is when a computer program is used to generate a synthetic, adaptable copy of a person's voice. Readily available software allows a user to copy a voice then use it to read whatever text the user creates.  

The video has also been fact checked by Reuters and PolitiFact and found to be digitally altered.

Since January 2020, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation has donated more than $2 billion to the global response to COVID, including the development of vaccines. According to its website, the foundation prohibits Bill and Melinda Gates from personally profiting from its work.