Some social media users claim that Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates bought the messaging app Telegram. However, no such transaction took place. Spokesmen for Telegram and Gates told Reuters the claim was false. Some users have posted a photo of a headline on Fox News reporting the purchase, but the headline in the images has been changed and Fox News has not reported anything like that.
The claim has been circulating on social media at least since February 16 (here, here). Recent examples on Instagram and Facebook can be seen here, here and here.
As outlined in the FAQ here, Telegram is supported ‘financially and ideologically’ by app founder Pavel Durov, while his brother Nikolai Durov provides the ‘technological input’.
Telegram’s press team told Reuters: “Telegram remains wholly owned by Pavel Durov.” The press team also pointed to a message from Durov on his official Telegram channel t.me/durov/142.
“We are not going to sell the company like the founders of Whatsapp,” Durov wrote in the report on December 22, 2020, referring to its larger competitive messaging service, which is now owned by Facebook.
A spokeswoman for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told Reuters that Gates’ has no financial relationship with Telegram. ‘
Some Internet users have spread a screen of the Fox News program America’s Newsroom, hosted by Trace Gallagher. The image was changed to include the fake caption ‘$ 600 million Bill Gates buys Telegram’ and a photo of Gates. An example of the modified image is here: here. The original image can be seen here
As seen here around time stamp 00:02, the headline originally reads: “celebrities push back against the cancellation culture.”
VERDICT
Untrue. According to Telegram’s press team, the platform will remain “fully owned by Pavel Durov” on April 5, 2021 “. According to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates has no financial relationship with Telegram. Fox News did not report that Gates bought Telegram.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here