Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft and philanthropist, faced backlash on social media after a clip of him referring to India as "a kind of laboratory to try things" during a podcast with Reid Hoffman, Co-founder of LinkedIn, went viral.
Gates remarked, "India is an example of a country where there's plenty of things that are difficult there — the health, education, nutrition is improving, and they are stable enough and generating their own government revenue enough that it's very likely that 20 years from now people will be dramatically better off. It's kind of a laboratory to try things that then, when you prove them out in India, you can take to other places."
As the Times of India reports, Gates also highlighted India’s importance to his philanthropic efforts, noting that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s largest non-United States office is in India and that the country hosts the majority of their pilot projects globally.
The backlash was swift. “The human beings in India are samples for Bill Gates’ laboratory to try things… This clip doesn’t sound right no matter in what context you hear this,” one user posted, as per the Times of India.
Another criticised, "Bill Gates says he uses India as a laboratory for testing new drugs on us. And our govt allows this evil man & his foundations to use us as guinea pigs! Shocking and shameful!"
Social media commentators questioned the ethics of Gates’ operations in India, calling for greater accountability in how international foundations engage with the country.
