Artist's creation misrepresented as Bill Gates-funded 'lab-grown drumstick'
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on November 30, 2023 at 21:42
- 4 min read
- By AFP France, AFP USA
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"Bill Gates lab grown zombie meat," claims a November 27, 2023 Facebook post sharing a video of a drumstick that appears to be moving.
Another post sharing the same footage on X, formerly known as Twitter, says: "This new footage of a lab-raised chicken is generating a lot of discussion about Bill Gates' new product for humanity."
The video spread across Facebook, Instagram and X -- including in French and Spanish.
Gates is a regular target of conspiracy theories. His investments and the work of his foundation are at the center of numerous claims AFP has debunked.
The Microsoft co-founder has made sizable investments personally or through Breakthrough Energy Ventures in start-ups specializing in meat alternatives. But the video shared online is unrelated to those companies -- it comes from an artist.
Moving food motif
The clip has a watermark attributing it to Russel Cameron and @providingforthecommunity.
Cameron posted the video of the wiggling drumstick to Instagram on November 25 without any reference to Bill Gates (archived here). He also shared it on TikTok and YouTube with the caption: "lab grown" (archived here and here).
View this post on Instagram
On both Instagram and X, Cameron describes himself as an artist. His profile on the website DeviantArt says he is a "self-taught sculptor" (archived here).
Cameron's YouTube, TikTok and Instagram accounts all feature multiple clips of moving meat he captions as "lab grown."
Just after the American holiday of Thanksgiving, he posted a TikTok of what appears to be a plate of "leftovers." The drumstick of meat is again moving.
AFP contacted Cameron for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.
Gates's investments
Gates has repeatedly said he hopes his investments in meat alternatives will help fight global warming.
In 2021, he told MIT Technology Review: "I do think all rich countries should move to 100 percent synthetic beef" (archived here).
He supported Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, which produce plant-based meat alternatives. He also backed Upside Foods, which was among two companies in June 2023 to receive the first US Department of Agriculture authorization to sell chicken products grown directly from animal cells -- a move that triggered misinformation.
The nonprofit Good Food Institute reports there are 159 cultivated meat companies worldwide and multiple governments funding related research and development (archived here).
Lab-grown chicken meat made its historic debut at a Singapore restaurant in December 2020, but skepticism remains. In mid-November, Italy moved to ban the production and sale of cultivated meat, even though it is not yet allowed in the European Union.
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