Conspiracy theories linking Bill Gates to the coronavirus pandemic have surged online, an analysis by The New York Times suggested.

The newspaper's analysis found more than 16,000 Facebook posts linking Gates with the virus, as well as 10 YouTube videos espousing the conspiracy theories that had garnered 5 million views.

Gates has been vocal about taking measures to combat the spread of the virus, and his foundation has poured $250 million into response efforts.

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Bill Gates' vocal stance on how to combat the coronavirus has made him a massive target of online conspiracy theorists, a New York Times analysis suggested.

The media analysis company Zignal Labs found that posts on social media falsely claiming that the Microsoft founder engineered the virus had exploded since the beginning of this year, The Times reported. In total, Zignal Labs found that conspiracy theories involving Gates and the virus had been mentioned 1.2 million times on social media and TV broadcasts, The Times said.

The Times said its analysis found more than 16,000 Facebook posts about Gates and the virus that had garnered about 900,000 likes and comments. It said the 10 most popular YouTube videos in March and April spreading misinformation about Gates had attracted 5 million views.

The newspaper said it traced the theories back to a tweet in late January by a YouTube personality linked to QAnon claiming that Gates knew about the pandemic ahead of time, citing a vaccine patent filed by a British group called the Pirbright Institute that had received funding from the Gates Foundation. The theory was picked up two days later by Infowars.

However, the vaccine was not related to the novel coronavirus but a different coronavirus that affects poultry, The Times said. In late January, the fact-checking site Full Fact debunked rumors circulating on social media that the Pirbright Institute had filed for a patent related to the novel coronavirus in 2015.

According to The Times, the surge in conspiracy theories blaming Gates seemed to correlate with prominent right-wing and anti-vaccination figures picking up the narrative. Roger Stone, Trump's former campaign adviser who earlier this year was sentenced to 40 months in prison, suggested on a radio show this week that "whether Bill Gates played some role in the creation and spread of this virus is open for vigorous debate" the New York Post reported.

Gates' philanthropic organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has pledged $250 million toward fighting the coronavirus pandemic, including developing and manufacturing a vaccine. Gates has appeared on TV and written op-ed articles voicing his opinions about how to fight the virus, and he recently criticized President Donald Trump for withdrawing US funding for the World Health Organization.

Gates is not the only focus of conspiracy theories about the virus. In Britain, over 50 phone masts have been targeted by arson attacks linked to a popular conspiracy theory about the coronavirus and 5G technology.

There is a degree of crossover between these theories. Full Fact has also debunked a popular Facebook post that circulated in mid-March claiming both that the coronavirus was a fiction designed to disguise physical damage being done by 5G and that Gates created the virus to control the world and create a vaccine.