Decision - Loveworld Limited

Ofcom has found Loveworld Limited in breach of broadcasting rules on its religious service, Loveworld. In our Decision published today, Ofcom found that The Global Day of Prayer, a 29-hour programme broadcast on 1 December 2020, included potentially harmful and inaccurate claims about the Coronavirus pandemic, in breach of Rules 2.1 and 5.1 of the Broadcasting Code.

The Global Day of Prayer contained news content and sermons with potentially harmful claims about the Coronavirus, including some statements that the pandemic is a “planned” event created by the “deep state” for nefarious purposes, and that the vaccine is a “sinister” means of administering “nanochips” to control and harm people. Some statements claimed that “fraudulent” testing had been carried out to deceive the public about the existence of the virus and the scale of the pandemic. Others linked the cause of Covid-19 to the roll out of 5G technology. The potentially harmful claims made during this programme were unsupported by any factual evidence and were broadcast without context or challenge. Ofcom’s investigation concluded that the broadcast failed to adequately protect audiences from harm and that news was not presented with due accuracy.

Ofcom has directed the Licensee not to repeat the programme and to broadcast a statement of Ofcom’s findings on a date and in a form to be determined by Ofcom. Given the seriousness of this breach and that it is Loveworld Limited’s second of this nature, Ofcom is also considering whether to impose a further sanction.

Decision - Loveworld Limited (PDF, 491.6 KB)