By: Rahul Adhikari
May 17 2023
Posts falsely claim billionaire financier George Soros died of a heart attack
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Fact-Check
The Verdict False
George Soros has confirmed that he is alive, and reports of his death are a hoax.
Claim ID 122920d6
Context
Several social media users have been sharing posts claiming that businessman George Soros has died of a heart attack. The caption of one such post dated May 15 stated, "BREAKING: George Soros has died of a violent heart attack, according to Politics For All Ireland." This particular post has gained significant attention, with more than one million views and over 2,700 likes. Furthermore, a user shared a screenshot of a news report suggesting that George Soros has passed away, stating, "Is GEORGE SOROS Dead?? Some reports out of Asia are reporting he died of a heart attack... May 15, 2023." Among others sharing the rumor was right-wing influencer Matt Wallace, who also took to Twitter to say that rumors were circulating about Soros' death due to a heart attack.
In Fact
The news of George Soros' death is false, as he himself confirmed that he is well and alive. After rumors of his death circulated on social media, Soros took to Twitter to refute the claim. In a tweet dated May 15, he stated, "Rumors that I had a heart attack are completely false. I am alive and healthy."
According to a report by Newsweek, a news article claiming that Soros had died, screenshots of which were being shared by several users, had cited a Twitter account named ‘Politics for All Ireland’ as the source. We also found several screenshots of the same tweet being shared by social media users. However, despite archival searches, we were unable to locate any such tweet by Politics for All Ireland. The last live tweet we found on this Twitter account is dated February 2, 2023. On May 15, a Twitter user named 'Cillian' shared a post claiming that Soros had died of a violent heart attack, citing Politics for All Ireland as the source of the news. The tweet from the user 'Cillian' went viral, garnering one million views. This Twitter account has a history of sharing conspiracy theories and non-credible information.
Furthermore, no credible reports or sources support the claim that Soros has died, which would have been the case had he passed away, given the status of the Hungary-born American business investor and philanthropist. It is evident that the news of the billionaire's death is a rumor, as he himself has clarified that he is in good health.
Soros's philanthropy and support for several liberal and democratic causes across the world have made him a target of far-right activists, QAnon conspiracy theorists, conservatives, and Republicans, with social media often seeing a surge in unsubstantiated claims related to him, according to Forbes. Additionally, Soros' Jewish heritage has made him a target of antisemitic conspiracy theories, falsely alleging his involvement in secret networks controlling world events. Claims about Soros being a former Nazi, “swearing to destroy the U.S.”, owning ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter, paying for protesters, and that he is responsible for the spread of COVID-19 are just some examples of misinformation about Soros that regularly do the rounds and have been debunked by Logically Facts.
The Verdict
The news of George Soros' death is false, and the misinformation stemmed from websites and sources lacking credibility. The philanthropist has clarified on Twitter that he is alive and in good health and has not experienced any heart
attacks.