False About this rating As an unfounded rumor that farmers in the U.S. were finding " boxes of ticks " in their fields spread in the spring of 2026, a related claim circulated that Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates was behind the spread of ticks inflicting people with alpha-gal syndrome . (People who develop alpha-gal syndrome become allergic to red meat and other products that contain it. The alpha-gal molecule occurs naturally in many mammals, but not in humans.) Prominent people contributed to sharing the rumor on social media, including British influencer Russell Brand , who has repeatedly relayed disinformation and fringe conspiracy theories ( archived ): Variations of the rumor said Gates was intentionally spreading alpha-gal syndrome via ticks because he wants people to stop eating red meat. Rep. Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee, suggested on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that it was because Gates was making "genetically-made meat" (at the 1:28:55 mark in this video ). In short, the rumor is false. While it is true that the Gates Foundation has funded a project involving ticks and that Gates backed a company in California whose lab-grown meat received FDA approval in 2022, the ticks that spread alpha-gal syndrome are not the same as the ticks that are the focus of the research Gates' organization backed in 2023. We reached out to the Gates Foundation to ask if they would continue to support this project, or if they were planning to support more projects involving ticks. The Associated Press debunked a version of the claim about Gates in 2023. A similar claim that accused activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals of using ticks to spread alpha-gal syndrome was the subject of a Snopes fact-check in 2017 . Lone star tick versus Asian blue tick As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic say, the tick that spreads alpha-gal syndrome is the lone star tick (scientific name: Am