Ofcom said in a statement that the station was fined £125,000 (N65.6m)  after the channel violated broadcasting codes for the second time.

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.

More detail: https://t.co/4y6dJ08DT3 https://t.co/PGosakSzyk

— Ofcom (@Ofcom) March 31, 2021

Earlier in December 2020, Loveworld aired a 29-hour programme called the Global Day of Prayer, during which claims were made about the COVID-19.

The agency, then sanctioned Loveworld saying the channel’s information was unsubstantiated claims about coronavirus without providing adequate protection for viewers. 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 communication infrastructures.

The agency concluded it was unfortunate that the station could continue to spread such information despite previous warnings.

The statement read in part: “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 program 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.”

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, who heads Christ Embassy church headquartered in Lagos, has in the last year encouraged his members to ignore COVID-19 protocols. The clergy has become more controversial in recent times.

He claimed to have reached up to 5 billion worshippers worldwide during his recently concluded 2021 Global Day of Prayer event, a number that left many people questioning the accuracy of the pastor’s claims.

The post UK fines Pastor Chris’ channel for disseminating Covid-19 misinformation appeared first on AFRICA EXPLAINED.

The Global Day of Prayer event was advertised for believers to join Pastor Chris and billions around the world from 6:00 pm GMT +1, 1:00 pm EST Friday 26th to Saturday 27th March 2021.

It was streamed live on all the LoveWorld Networks and Web/Mobile platforms, LIVE TV, CEFLIX, and on major Satellite, terrestrial and local TV and Radio Stations around the world.

Believers were encouraged to participate through their preferred TV, Radio, mobile, or web application/ website/ social media site.

But during the event, viewers began seeing a banner that suggests that up to 5.3 billion people are watching the events live a figure that caused some to wonder if it was just a typo.

A tweep Ayo Sogunro questioned the 5 billion viewers number saying: ‘5 billion would mean literally everyone in the world old enough to listen was listening in every village, in every town, in every airport, in every shop, in every bank, in every govt office, in every school….wait, why am I even bothering to explain?

5 billion would mean literally everyone in the world old enough to listen was listening in every village, in every town, in every airport, in every shop, in every bank, in every govt office, in every school….wait, why am I even bothering to explain? https://t.co/sVk1bFwdrB

— Dr Ayo Sogunro (@ayosogunro) March 27, 2021

Another argued that even the FIFA World Cup does not have such viewership, sharing Google’s list of events with the highest viewership in the world.

My brother, even world cup no reach am…. pic.twitter.com/aWeOI7vCu8

— XL2LETTERS (@XL2LETTERS) March 27, 2021

Another argued that there aren’t even up to 5 billion internet users in the world, tweeting: ‘The number of internet users is around 4.6bn. The number of those with pay-TV is around 1.7bn. And many, many, many of these people have both. I’m really curious as to how this number was arrived at!’

Pastor Chris has always been controversial, in one of his Sunday services, the Pastor explained to his church members how much time they have before the end of the world.

Using a chart, he explained to his members he calculated when Jesus walked out of the temple as 30AD and when he was born within 4BC and 2BC, using those calculations he estimated when the rapture will happen.

Pastor Chris also claimed scientists are trying to vaccinate everyone in the world by 2030 by putting chips inside them.

“2030 is the goal set by GAVi and MIT, think about it…Even Satan is trying to understand the scripture and he is pushing people to act.” He adds.

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