Fact check: George Soros did not say he would fund “Black Hate groups”

An old meme, which falsely alleges George Soros said he would “bring down” the U.S. by funding “Black Hate groups”, has begun to recirculate online amid the protests over the death of George Floyd.

Examples of the posts are visible here , here , here , here , here , here , here and here .

The meme has been circulating online since 2016 and has been debunked by multiple factcheckers here and here . According to a CrowdTangle search, the earliest iteration available on a Facebook public group or page is from August 16, 2016 ( here ).

The meme attributes the quote to an alleged interview with Soros by German newspaper Bild ( www.bild.de/ ) on September, 2014.

Reuters found no evidence in Bild’s archive of an exchange with Soros where he made any such statement in 2014, or any other year ( here ). Another search with the words “George Soros interview” is visible here . Reuters found no report from a credible source about this alleged exchange.

“There was no interview with George Soros in BILD or on BILD.de in 2014” a Bild spokesperson confirmed to Reuters over email, adding, “This meme is fake.”

According to Bild’s archive, two articles published in 2014 briefly mention Soros. An article published on April 3, 2014, titled “Huren und gauner: So irre lästern Bulgariens Politiker” (which translates to “Whores and Crooks: Bulgarian politicians' crazy insults” , here ), discussed Bulgarian politicians calling government protesters “ ‘Sorosoids’ — a newly created, derogatory word for employees of the billionaire George Soros Foundation or other western non-governmental organizations.”

Another article from November 1, 2014, titled “Teuerster Wahlkampf Aller Zeiten! Milliardenschlacht um den US-Kongress” (which translates to “Most expensive campaign ever! Billion dollar battle for the US Congress”, here ) mentioned Soros as a “major donor” of the Democratic party.

A spokesperson for the Open Society Foundations ( here ), founded by Soros, also confirmed the allegation is false. “This quote is a complete fabrication”, the spokesperson told Reuters on email, adding, “We've seen how dangerous disinformation can be.”

Reuters recently debunked a claim of a fake flyer showing a job listing for “professional anarchists” allegedly founded by Soros ( here ).

VERDICT

False. George Soros did not say he would fund “Black Hate groups”

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts   here   .