The UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) has slapped a fine of £125,000 (N65.6m) on the religious channel ‘Loveworld’ owned by the pastor of Christ Embassy, Chris Oyakhilome over his COVID-19 sermon.
The agency said in a statement that the fine was imposed on the channel for breaching the country’s broadcasting code by disseminating misinformation on COVID-19.
Recall that on December 1, 2020, Loveworld aired a 29-hour programme called the Global Day of Prayer, during which claims were made about the COVID-19.
According to the agency, these claims included the notion that the outbreak was ‘planned’, that the ‘sinister’ vaccine can be used to implant ‘nanochips’ that can control and cause harm to members of the public and the debunked theory that the virus was somehow caused by 5G.
The agency said it was unfortunate that the station could continue to spread such information despite previous warnings.
“Today we have fined Loveworld £125,000 for this breach of the broadcasting code. This was the second time in a year that the broadcaster breached our rules on accuracy in news and harm in its coverage of the coronavirus,” said Ofcom.
“Ofcom stresses that legitimate debate about the official response to the coronavirus pandemic is fundamental to holding public authorities to account during a global health crisis - particularly when public freedoms are curtailed and complex policy decisions are being taken.
“However, the inaccurate and potentially harmful claims made during this programme were unsupported by any factual evidence and went entirely without challenge.
“Ofcom was particularly concerned that this breach followed previous, similar breaches in 2020 during the investigation of which, Loveworld Limited gave Ofcom a number of assurances as to how it would improve its compliance procedures,” the agency said.
