So I was browsing the comments of a 'Crusader Memes' post on Imgur because I hate myself and I came across a comment saying:

Fun fact the Byzantines convinced the pope to start the crusades just so they could have access to the silk road.

which is just... I mean... let's just take a look.

Fun fact

This sentence is neither fun nor a fact.

the Byzantines convinced the pope

I would hardly say the Byzantines 'convinced' anybody. They requested assistance, it's not like they were trying to trick Pope Urban II into something. If I ask someone to help me move my couch and they agree I haven't 'convinced' them to move my couch.

to start the crusades

This bit is wrong for a couple of reasons. Firstly; the Byzantines were not looking for an expedition on the scale of the first crusade, it's more likely that they wanted a smaller group of Frankish soldiers who would provide assistance but still be basically bound to the Byzantine cause. Urban II decided to take the opportunity to transform the expedition into what would eventually be called the First Crusade. Second, they weren't intending this to be a repeated event so the plural would be incorrect even if it was applied to a more accurate word. Even the Pope at the time was not trying to start 'the crusades' (doubly so because the name 'crusades' wouldn't come around until much later but that's a minor point) he was planning a single event.

just so they could have access to the silk road.

I can't find any source claiming the Byzantine empire ever lost access to the silk road and Europe had had access to the Silk Road since at least the time of the Roman Empire, possibly earlier. Even if they had needed access to the Silk Road the goal of the Byzantines was to reclaim lost territory in Anatolia and hopefully stem Seljuk aggression. As the Silk Road ran through the Levant and then across the Mediterranean to Constantinople and Italy (as seen here) none of the territory the Byzantines wanted to reclaim would have in any way affected this.

Bonus comments:

And yes, all crusaders have been fought and been defeated by armies of great Salah ud din.

Saladin is associated pretty specifically with the Third Crusade and would not have fought any armies of the other crusades as far as I can remember.

so is there someone with a full templar outfit that just remakes memes? neat

The image he is referring to is this one or any of the similar ones and that is not a Templar outfit, or even any of the military orders as far as I can tell. The Templars wore white cloth with a red cross, the Hospitalers wore black cloth with a white cross, and the Teutonic Knights wore white cloth with a black cross. The person in the gif doesn't even have a cross on their tabard and it's quartered in black and white.

Source: The Crusades by Thomas Asbridge