A Warren Buffett-owned company is battling wild conspiracies that it planted bricks for George Floyd protesters to hurl at police

• Conspiracy theorists have wildly claimed that a brick company owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is in cahoots with Bill Gates and antifa to arm protesters with bricks.
• Unfounded claims of Acme Brick deliberately planting bricks at protest sites have spread across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok.
• Fox News and the White House have linked the bricks to antifa and "professional anarchists."
• Acme Brick said on its website that it "has not done, and will not do, anything to intentionally promote violence."

Online conspiracy theorists have wildly claimed that a brick company, owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, conspired with Bill Gates and antifa to plant bricks at police-brutality protests, according to Bloomberg.

Unfounded accusations that Texas-based Acme Brick was intentionally leaving bricks for protesters to hurl at police have spread across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok in recent weeks, Bloomberg said.

Fox News has run segments on the bricks. The White House also tweeted out, then deleted, a compilation of video clips showing piles of bricks. The video accused "professional anarchists" and antifa of placing them to spur violence at Black Lives Matter protests across the country, SFGate reported.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've now discovered who is delivering bricks to over 20 cities," Alex Jones, the right-wing conspiracy theorist, said on his June 2 radio show, according to Bloomberg.

"It's Acme Brick, owned by Berkshire Hathaway and Bill Gates." Jones continued. "Can't make that up."

Acme Brick didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. It dismissed the rumors on its website.

"Acme Brick Company is in the business of building, not destroying," the group said, adding that it "has not done, and will not do, anything to intentionally promote violence."

"Neither Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, nor anyone else at Berkshire Hathaway directed us to position brick for an unlawful purpose," Acme added.

Gates has been the target of false claims that he masterminded the coronavirus pandemic in order to profit from selling the vaccine for it, or to implant tracking microchips using vaccines.

The Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist is a close friend of Buffett. He resigned from Berkshire's board in March, but the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation remains one of its biggest shareholders.

Numerous fact-checkers and media outlets have found no evidence of an organized effort to place bricks at protest sites, Bloomberg said. Insider has reported that many of the claims appear to be false.

"Everything from bricks to candy"

Berkshire bought Acme's parent company, Justin Industries, for $570 million in cash, according to Buffett's shareholder letter for 2000.

Buffett said that Acme produced more than 1 billion bricks annually or about 12% of national output, and described it as "the premier producer of brick in Texas and five neighboring states."

The famed investor cracked several jokes about Berkshire's bet on bricks in his letter.

"We have embraced the 21st century by entering such cutting-edge industries as brick, carpet, insulation, and paint," he said. "Try to control your excitement."

"I can't resist pointing out that Berkshire — whose top management has long been mired in the 19th century — is now one of the very few authentic 'clicks-and-bricks' businesses around," Buffett quipped.

"You can bet this move by Berkshire is making them sweat in Silicon Valley," he added.

"Come prepared to carry home everything from bricks to candy," he advised shareholders planning to attend Berkshire's annual meeting, where products from See's Candies and the conglomerate's other subsidiaries are on sale.