Billionaire philanthropist George Soros did not go missing in Geneva in early March, despite widely shared claims online. The unsubstantiated rumor appears to have stemmed from a satirical Twitter account.
Social media users shared posts saying Soros was scheduled to attend a conference in Geneva on March 5 but did not arrive.
Examples of the claim shared online can be viewed (here) and (here).
A spokesperson for Soros, Michael Vachon, told Reuters that the billionaire was not missing.
A spokesperson for the Open Society Foundations, the non-profit organization founded by Soros, similarly told Reuters via email that Soros was not missing and added that he was not in Geneva at the start of March, nor was he scheduled to attend an event in the city.
Reuters did not find any credible media outlet reporting that Soros was missing (archive.is/wip/Tnbjm), nor any evidence of a scheduled event where Soros was due to speak on March 5 (archive.is/wip/NfluY).
The government agency that handles issues pertaining to events in the city, International Geneva, received no information suggesting Soros was expected at such a conference on March 5, a spokesperson said (here).
The earliest iteration of the claim online that Reuters could find stems from a satirical Twitter account (here), archived (archive.is/1xhn4).
The opening sentence of the account’s description reads: “Speculation News, because it's all made up anyway,” archived (archive.is/ZhH5X).
Reuters has debunked multiple false or misleading claims about Soros (reut.rs/3FbGiMc).
VERDICT
Satire. The claim appears to have stemmed from a satirical Twitter account. Spokespeople for Soros told Reuters that he is not missing and was not scheduled to speak at an event in Geneva on March 5.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.