Nigerian pastor, Chris Oyakhilome’s religious TV channel, Loveworld, has been sanctioned by the Office of Communications in the United Kingdom (Ofcom) for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19.
Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom, in a statement on its official Twitter page, said the station was fined £125,000 (N65.6m) for breaching the country’s broadcasting code by disseminating misinformation on COVID-19.
“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,” tweeted Ofcom.
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, which has so far killed thousands across the globe.
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”.
Mr Oyakhilome, who heads Christ Embassy church headquartered in Lagos, has in the last one year encouraged his members to ignore COVID-19 protocols.
