E-Paper
Why Bill Gates is trending amid Texas floods. ‘Cloud seeding’, ‘weather modification’ claims surface
Bill Gates suddenly started trending on social media platforms after catastrophic floods hit Texas and several children from Camp Mystic went missing
Bill Gates suddenly started trending on social media platforms after catastrophic floods hit Texas and several children from Camp Mystic, around the Guadalupe River, went missing. The Microsoft co-founder has found himself at the center of a conspiracy theory, linking his past funding of geoengineering projects, such as cloud seeding and solar radiation modification, to the floods that killed over 70 people.
Kandiss Taylor, who is running for Georgia's House seat, suggested that the Texas floods are a result of cloud seeding. She tweeted: “Fake weather. Fake hurricanes. Fake flooding. Fake. Fake. Fake.” However, her post did not mention Bill Gates.
Read More: Camp Mystic victims: Sarah Marsh's family says 8-year-old was a ‘beautiful spunky ray of light’
Posts on X, such as @TimRyanDOPEMAN’s, falsely claimed Gates is behind the Texas floods, stating, “Of course, the Texas floods were from cloud seeding and weather modification… m****s like Bill Gates think they know what the hell they’re doing.”
However, there is no evidence to back these claims. Elon Musk-led xAi's bot, Grok, fact-checked these tweets.
"The text in the image promotes a baseless conspiracy theory: no evidence shows weather is "weaponized" or that Bill Gates is blocking the sun to cause events like Texas floods. Gates funds geoengineering research, but claims of malice are unfounded," it noted.
Bill Gates has, however, funded several geoengineering projects since 2006. In 2010, he invested $300,000 in Silver Lining, a San Francisco group developing machines to spray seawater into clouds to reflect sunlight. Since 2006, the Microsoft founder has backed Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program, including the SCoPEx project to test calcium carbonate aerosol spraying, though a 2021 test in Sweden was canceled due to protests.
Read More: Camp Mystic flooding: All about the church camp in Texas where at least 25 girls went missing
Cloud seeding and weather modification claims
What Is Cloud Seeding?
Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique that disperses substances like silver iodide into clouds to enhance precipitation (rain or snow) by encouraging water droplet formation. In Texas, it has been used since the 1940s to combat drought, covering 31 million acres in regions like the Panhandle and South Texas.
Texas’ cloud seeding programs
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) oversees cloud seeding operations from April to September, using aircraft to target convective clouds, funded by local water districts. The Texas Weather Modification Association confirms its use for rain enhancement, not flood causation.
