Unfounded claims about the World Economic Forum, mark of the beast and microchips spread online

The headline in a recent blog post may not make total sense to all readers, but it dangles enough red meat to leave at least some worried. 

"WEF launches ‘Mark of the Beast’ CBDC microchip that will ‘end gun ownership in America,’" the July 13 headline says, using abbreviations for the World Economic Forum and central bank digital currency.

A screenshot of the headline shared in a recent Instagram post also includes what looks like a screenshot from the World Economic Forum that says, "CBDC microchips will end gun ownership in America." 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

This is less a factual statement and more a fear-mongering ad lib. 

Yann Zopf, a World Economic Forum spokesperson, told us the claim is untrue and the screenshotted tweet was fabricated. 

We couldn’t find the tweet on the forum’s Twitter account or evidence that such an official statement ever existed. 

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We also found no mention on the forum’s website of mark of the beast, an allegiance to Satan as told in the New Testament, or of a microchip that’s connected to a central bank digital currency. The forum has posted about the potential for a central bank digital currency, but nothing like what’s suggested in this blog post.

The blog shown in the Instagram post has previously shared misinformation, and this claim appears to be no exception. Though the post features a "fact checked" label, it’s unclear what that means. It links to the site’s "about" page, which claims to cover "the headlines mainstream outlets shy away from." 

We rate this headline False.