CLAIM: World Economic Forum executive chairman Klaus Schwab was recently admitted to the hospital in serious condition and might have died.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Posts making these allegations began spreading widely after a website that says it publishes “satire, and comedic opinion pieces and editorials” posted an article about Schwab’s supposed hospitalization. A WEF spokesperson told The Associated Press that the claims are untrue.
THE FACTS: Social media users are spreading baseless rumors about Schwab’s health.
“BREAKING: Klaus Schwab was apparently admitted to the hospital seriously ill,” reads one X post that had received approximately 25,000 likes and 8,800 shares as of Monday. “Anyway, that doesn’t BUG me.”
The word “bug” appears to be emphasized in reference to another false claim, that the WEF wants to replace meat with bugs.
Other posts go a step further, stating that Schwab “may be dead.”
But the WEF founder is not deathly ill or worse, according to Yann Zopf, a spokesperson for the organization.
“These claims are entirely baseless and unfounded,” he wrote in an email to the AP. “Professor Schwab’s health is excellent. Like many high-profile individuals and organizations, he and the World Economic Forum have been targeted by conspiracy narratives, as well as misinformation and disinformation campaigns.”
Hellbound and Down 