In May and June 2026, a claim (archived) circulated online that the technology company Google would release up to 64 million bacteria-infested mosquitoes across Florida and California.
One Facebook user who shared the claim wrote:
Google is about to conduct one of the LARGEST open-air biological experiments in U.S. HISTORY. 64 MILLION bacteria-infected mosquitoes are set to be released into Florida and California — potentially causing irreversible ecosystem disruptions.
Similar claims also circulated across X (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived) and Reddit (archived). Some claims gave a lower number of 32 million mosquitoes. Snopes readers also contacted us about the claim.
The claims related to Google's Debug project that aims to reduce the effects of mosquito-borne diseases by releasing sterile males carrying wolbachia bacteria into wild populations. Because male mosquitoes do not bite humans, releasing them into the wild does not generally increase bite rates.
Wolbachia is a common type of bacteria found in insects. When a male mosquito that carries the bacteria mates with a female that does not, the female's eggs will not hatch. Wolbachia bacteria cannot make humans or animals sick, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the Federal Register, Google submitted two applications to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2025 to release sterile male mosquitoes carrying strains of wolbachia bacteria into New Jersey, Florida and California. One application proposed releasing 32 million insects, while another proposed releasing 64 million.
At the time of this writing, the EPA had not granted Google permission for either proposed release. We contacted Google and the EPA to ask about the status of the applications and await replies to our queries. In the meantime, we leave this claim unrated.
Google already had permission to release sterile male mosquitoes carrying a specific strand of wolbachia bacteria in Hawaii. The EPA granted that permit in late April 2026. Another U.S. company that produces wolbachia-infected mosquitoes for population control has two valid EPA registrations that will run until 2028.
What Debug wants
According to Google and Debug's two experimental-use permit applications with the EPA, the project sought permission to release a total of 96 million sterilized male mosquitoes across New Jersey, California and Florida between 2026 and 2028.
Companies that want to use unregistered pesticides in the U.S. must apply for an experimental-use permit. The EPA regulates mosquitoes carrying wolbachia bacteria as a pesticide.
In June 2025, the EPA received an application from Google to release 64 million sterilized male mosquitoes carrying wolbachia bacteria into California and Florida across two years. Google said it would release 16 million mosquitoes per year in each state.
Specifically, the company applied to release "Wolbachia pipientis wAlbB" bacteria in male Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes. The company had received a permit to release that strain of bacteria in that type of mosquito in Hawaii in April 2026. It was unclear whether it had released any insects under the permit at the time of this writing.
Culex mosquitoes can spread West Nile, St. Louis encephalitis and eastern equine encephalitis viruses, according to the CDC.
In October 2025, the EPA received another application from Google to release 32 million sterilized male mosquitoes carrying wolbachia bacteria over a period of three years in New Jersey, Florida and California.
That application asked to use the wPip strain of wolbachia bacteria in Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which can spread dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.
At the time of this writing, the EPA had registered two pesticide products that uses wolbachia bacteria in male mosquitoes.
One product, produced by a company called MosquitoMate, used the wPip strain of wolbachia in Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, just like Google proposed to do in its October 2025 application. The MosquitoMate product is registered with the EPA for use across all U.S. states and territories and the District of Columbia until Dec. 31, 2028.
MosquitoMate also had another registered pesticide that used the wAlbB strain of wolbachia bacteria in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (the same bacteria strain but different a mosquito type from Google's June 2025 EPA application). That product was also registered for use across the U.S and expired on Dec. 31, 2028.
It appeared Google had to seek its own permits because it was not using MosquitoMate's registered products, even if they used the same bacteria strains in the same type of insects. Snopes asked the EPA when it expected to make a decision on Google's permit applications and await a reply.
How it works
Google's Debug project started around 2014 and was originally part of Verily, a research organization owned by Google's parent company, Alphabet. According to the Guardian, Google acquired the Debug project in December 2024.
The Debug project's website said it was developing new technologies to automatically rear mosquitoes infected with wolbachia bacteria, sort the males from the females and release large numbers of sterile males into the wild in places that needed help to control local populations.
The project has already been tested in Singapore, where Debug supported the Singaporean National Environmental Agency's "Project Wolbachia," which released male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes into areas with a high risk of dengue virus from mosquito bites.
According to a study published in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine, Project Wolbachia reduced the risk of dengue fever from mosquito bites by more than 70% in some areas.
Experts generally regard the use of wolbachia-infected mosquitoes to be safe and effective. The Singaporean National Environmental Agency described Project Wolbachia as "safe and natural." In the U.S., the EPA found that the pesticide would not adversely affect human health or the environment. The accidental release of female mosquitoes carrying wolbachia bacteria that could bite people also posed a negligible risk to humans, according to the EPA.
In sum, it was unclear at the time of this writing whether Google and its Debug project would get permission from the EPA to release millions of wolbachia-infected mosquitoes into three U.S. states. The project already had a permit to use its insects as a pesticide in Hawaii, and similar products had active EPA registrations.
The method was generally regarded as safe and effective. Humans and animals cannot get sick from wolbachia bacteria, and male mosquitoes, which are the ones that projects like Debug release, do not bite humans or feed on blood.
For further reading, Snopes previously investigated whether Bill Gates backed the spread of ticks that cause alpha-gal syndrome.