Conservative Party's endorsement of GB News adds validity to disinformation
Harmful to public health and encouraging civil unrest
Conservative Party endorses GB News
The Conservative Party is increasingly supporting GB News, five MPs are now presenters on the channel and Braverman the Home Secretary is taking GBNews with her on a trip to Kigali whilst many larger outlets have not been invited.
Considering GBNews has become the channel of choice for disinformation groups and conspiracy theorists to reach a wider audience it should be alarming that the government is willing to endorse the channel. The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt also recently did an interview with GBNews regarding the budget, his interviewers were two other Conservative MPs who also work for the channel.
By treating GBNews as a valid news source the Conservative Party are adding a veneer of credibility to the many wild claims made on the channel.
After the claims of Conservative Party to be concerned about antisemitism in the Labour Party, it seems astounding they would endorse an organisation that platforms holocaust deniers.
More details of the incident last year in John Bye's thread below.
This year Neil Oliver has reheated the antisemitic protocols of zion in his Silent War segment.
More details in Matthew Sweet’s thread.
GBNews presenters and those they regularly platform recently attended an antivax event organised by John Mappin, founder of Turning Point UK.
This is the narrative the Conservative Party are effectively endorsing, and suggests the next election will focus on culture wars and narratives that will embolden the far right.
GB News is harmful to public health and encourages civil unrest
A Call for action from Ofcom and Parliament
Despite claims to the contrary GB News has become the UK’s equivalent of Fox News, its purpose seems to be predominantly focused on stoking culture wars, however it is GB News' partisan coverage of covid that's of the utmost concern. A full investigation is required into the relationship of GB News, its presenters and disinformation groups.
GB News rarely tries to balance views in its coverage and regularly platforms individuals who are members of groups that promote unproven treatments, anti-vax propaganda and conspiracy theories. The bias of presenters is clearly evident, allowing discredited individuals to cite statistics from papers that have been withdrawn without scrutiny or challenge, meanwhile respected experts repeating the scientific consensus are treated as though they represent fringe views in hostile interviews. Many of the covid sceptic individuals platformed have raised large sums of money.
Concerns for the impact of GB News output on public health are based on
Antivax propaganda without any evidence to back its claims, for instance misrepresenting data like VAER and the Yellow card system to suggest many thousands have died from adverse events and that vaccines will kill more children than covid,
Suggestions vaccines contain nanotechnology and graphene oxide
Unproven claims vaccines are harmful to pregnant women and their unborn babies, despite the clear evidence they are at higher risk from covid
This includes encouraging the public not to take up the offer of boosters
The undermining of government health information regarding masks, claiming they have no impact on transmission and cause harm
Over exaggerating the robustness and reliability of immunity after infection
The promotion of unproven and potentially harmful treatments like ivermectin as safe alternatives to vaccination.
This is advice that if followed can lead to preventable harm, the risk of severe illness is higher without vaccination
Concerns for the impact of GB News output in regards of civil unrest by providing a regular sympathetic platform for conspiracy theorists, the work of these individuals and their colleagues is based around promoting narratives that authorities and healthcare workers are involved in a conspiracy of cover ups
That covid has been intentionally exaggerated through unfounded claims regarding the false positivity rate of PCR tests
That covid has been intentionally exaggerated through the manipulation of death certificates and statistics
That the wearing of masks is part of a long term plan of social control
That unproven treatments like ivermectin have been deliberately suppressed to support the profits of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZenica
That vaccine harms are deliberately being covered up in a conspiracy to depopulate the world
Examples
25 August 2020: Presenter Calvin Robinson tells a qualified expert they are wrong about ivermectin, promoting the unproven treatment by quoting papers that haven’t passed peer review, have been widely discredited by the scientific community and been withdrawn from publication.
8 January: Michael Yeadon is interviewed with Neil Oliver, claims governments were lying when they said they didn’t know how long natural immunity would last, claims governments lied about the risks of covid. “Something very bad is happening…it’s nothing like you’ve been told. Michael Yeadon is advising America’s Frontline Doctors, is a member of many groups including HART, Pandata and PCRclaims. He claims vaccines are part of a global conspiracy to depopulate the world.
12 February: Jennifer Arcuri is interviewed by Neil Oliver. Arcuri claimed Boris Johnson isn’t the person she knew and that investigators really need to look into it. “The science is actually there, horrifying data” she accuses the government of a conspiracy regarding all sorts of vaccine injuries.
Neil Oliver is supportive of her views and suggests that we are also being primed to have all currency removed for “something digital.” He repeatedly references “things going around the internet.”
Acuri claims the government is a “crime syndicate that seeks to control and enslave everyone.”
44 minuted in
16 July: Tess Lawrie interviewed by Neil Oliver on child vaccines. Lawrie says the vaccine can’t be considered like other child vaccines. “This vaccine is extremely dangerous, its unsafe and potentially fatal. Evidence does not support its use it children, babies, in pregnant women, actually in anybody at this stage”
Claims vaccines may cause infertility, vaccine trials weren’t properly conducted, undeclared ingredients are in the vaccines including graphene products and metallic objects. Claims there is no safety data, claims 500,000 adverse reaction just in the UK and that boosters lead to more deaths, quotes the anti-vax, ivermectin promoting World Health Council that she is a member of.
Other guest Beverly Turner claims vaccines for children are dangerous and that covid causes no harm to children. Misrepresents the Chief Medical Officer’s statement on vaccination.
Tess Lawrie is the founder of the British Ivermectin Research Group which has raised tens of thousands of pounds under the premise of establishing an ivermectin distribution network.
25 July: Mark Steyn interviews people from the BBC’s Unvaccinated programme, the guests claim everyone wants to talk about vaccine deaths but they aren’t allowed. Claims information is being hidden. Counter to official guidance Steyn claims there's no medical need for the guests to be vaccinated.
27 July: Clare Craig interviewed by Mark Steyn on a German paper they say shows a high number of serious reactions to boosters. Presenter describes the vaccines as a debacle. The paper they are discussing has already been withdrawn due to errors.
Clare Craig and presenter suggest adverse reactions are considerably under-counted, claims 1 in 300 vaccines lead to serious adverse reactions, Craig then states 1 in 142 doses of AstraZenica lead to severe reactions.
Clare Craig is a member of HART, Pandata, PCRclaims, and was a member of Covid19Asssembly that raised tens of thousands of pound for Craig to perform an audit of death certificates, C19Assembly has since dissolved without carrying out the audit raising questions regarding what has happened to the funds that were raised.
29 July: Richard Ennos interview by Mark Steyn. Piece titled “Jab me up, scotty. Is there a link between excess deaths and vaccines.” Ennos suggests adverse reactions are responsible for excess deaths. Steyn suggests governments are covering up adverse reactions. Ennos describes the vaccine programme as an experiment, “an experiment I wish they’d never started”, and that there is a causal link between vaccines and excess deaths. Ennos is also a HART member.
This is just a selection of clips representing the general output of GB News which predominantly relies on previously debunked papers and statistics. There is no effort to retrospectively correct demonstrably false information. The channel plays directly on the narrative that covid measures and vaccination has been introduced for reasons other than public health. This is an intentional dog whistle for anti-vax and far right groups, undermining trust in all state institutions.
It’s exactly the same talking points and rhetoric used by extremists calling for healthcare workers to be put on trial in what is referred to as Nuremberg 2.0.
#HARTleaks
Many of GB News’ speakers on covid are members of HART. HART are a UK based group that describes themselves as providing independent expert advice on the pandemic to policy makers and the public. June 2021 it was discovered that HARTs internal chat channels hadn’t been made private, HART rectified this mistake at the end of August 2021, by which point the entire contents of the chat logs had been archived for use by investigators.
The leaks show HART are just part of a wider network of coordinated disinformation groups, members are also involved in an ecosystem of other disinformation groups including Us for Them, Lawyers 4 Liberty, Daily Skeptic, The UK Medical Freedom Alliance, Pandata, PCRclaims, China files, C19Assembly, Liberal Spring, the Great Barrington Declaration, Collateral Global, The Truth for Health Foundation, British Ivermectin Research Development group, Robert F Kennedy’s Children’s Health Defence and America’s Frontline Doctors whose founder Simone Gold was arrested for her involvement in the storming of Capitol Hill. Many members’ involvement is intentionally kept from the public including Patrick Fagan, Cambridge Analytica’s former head of psychology and Michael Yeadon the former Pfizer chief scientist who is known globally as a major source of covid disinformation and is on record alleging that vaccines are part of a deliberate attempt at “mass depopulation”, saying recipients would die within two years.
There can be disagreements within the scientific community, however the HART leaks provide the evidence to show the scientific method has been abandoned in favour of creating deliberately misleading information. The leaks show a willingness to work with all manner of extremist groups like America's Frontline Doctors and groups promoting unproven treatment protocols and medicines like Frontline Covid Critical Care and the British Ivermectin Research Development group. The Safer to Wait campaign is the product of collaboration between these groups, its resources contain clear disinformation which is quoted by anti-vaxxers at school gates and included in the threatening letters Headteachers have received. At least one school has had to employ security guards after a threatening crowd tried to break into the school to disrupt vaccinations and another had to be evacuated after a hoax bomb threat.
HART and its members have not only entertained extraordinary QAnon-style conspiracy theories about a global depopulation agenda, but have published anti-vaxxer misinformation claiming that the COVID-19 vaccines have been the real culprit behind mass deaths attributed to the pandemic.
The leaked logs of internal discussions among HART members reveal that despite its veneer of public respectability, the group privately believes that COVID-19 vaccines killed more people than they saved, discussed the idea of hanging nurses, and frequently share bizarre theories about 5G, vaccines and magnetism. For instance HART and Pandata Team analyst Joel Smalley released a paper in March 2021 implying COVID19 deaths were actually caused by vaccinations, a narrative member Clare Craig said they needed to “seed” to the public and which they have continually promoted in the literature they produce for other disinformation groups.
The leaks revealed politicians in regular communication, meeting with and coordinating with HART and other members of the disinformation network, around 60 MPs receive a weekly briefing from HART which is full of incorrect or misrepresented statistics. Andrew Rosindell is a friend of the co-founder Baron Bernie de Haldevang and offered to help facilitate HART building a relationship with MPs, in particular those in the CRG beginning with Steve Baker and Mark Harper who have developed a close working relationship with HART.
Further leaks have since occurred alongside additional information uncovered by investigators including an article in The Times which reported Sir Graham Brady attending a meeting of prominent figures of the anti-vax movement including Michael Yeadon, Doleres Cahill, Anna de Buisseret of Lawyers 4 Liberty who is on video accusing the NHS of killing children, John O'Looney who has claimed the Government is creating concentration camps for those who refuse to get vaccinated, and Tess Lawrie of BIRD who is raising funds to cure people of "Covid Jab Syndrome" with ivermectin. The group Sir Graham Brady met with have said they are working with Kevin Corbett co-founder of the British Nursing Alliance with Kate Shemirani who called for nurses to be hanged at a protest in Trafalgar Square. The meeting was also covered by the Independent.
GB News presenters and conspiracy theories
On social media GB News presenters post pictures of themselves socialising with members of HART and other affiliated groups. Neil Oliver and other presenters have appeared at events run by disinformation groups which promote covid conspiracy theories. They also socialise with John Mappin, the founder of culture war outfit Turning Point UK who flies a Qanon flag at the hotel he owns.
Presenters have been open with their support of other organisations such as the Together Declaration which includes an assortment of anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists from organisations such as Pandata and HART, some of whom have engaged in calling for trials of those involved in the vaccination programme.
Details on the Together Declaration team here
Turning Point in the US has been hosting Trump rallies where the former president continues to repeat the lie that the election was stolen from him. GB presenter NIgel Farage appeared at a CPAC event in the US when he also repeated the lie that the US election had been rigged, he then questioned the integrity of UK elections seeking to undermine democracy on both sides of the Atlantic.
Full speech here
Summary
Either by design or due to the biases of its presenters GB News has become an active distributor of disinformation, particularly on covid, vaccines and climate change, but also in regards to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It platforms known conspiracy theorists and promotes unproven treatments with presenters collaborating with disinformation groups whose narratives undermine the democratic system and encourage militant groups.
While Russia Today has been taken off air in the UK, GB News now fills a similar disinformation niche to Russia Today and Fox News in the US that questioned the legitimacy of the US elections leading to the Capitol Hill Insurrection. Members of HART are even actively working with America’s Frontline Doctors whose founder Simone Gold was recently sentenced to prison for her involvement in the insurrection.
GB News’ live viewing figures may be relatively small, however clips of interviews with factually incorrect and harmful content are shared widely on the internet reaching a larger audience in the UK and abroad.
Figures targeted as “pro-lockdown” and “pro-vaccine” by GB News and these groups have been subjected to abuse and death threats, there is a direct link between individuals platformed and the abuse of public sector workers and anti-vax groups that have caused safeguarding concerns in schools.
Action Required
The Counter Disinformation Project calls on Ofsted and Parliament to conduct an investigation into the relationship between GB News, its presenters and groups producing content that undermines public health and incites anti-vax and far right groups to engage in threatening behaviour and civil unrest.
Wider Evidence Base
The Counter Disinformation Project has produced two reports on disinformation groups which includes evidence from the HARTleaks of a coordinated disinformation campaign undermining public health.
Pandata were formed in April 2020, international in nature with members from many counties who would go on to be involved in national disinformation groups.
Members include former Trump advisors Scott Atlas and Paul E Alexander, Republican politician Scott Jensen who is currently standing for governor of Minnesota. The Great Barrington Declaration Authors Sunetra Gupta, Martin Kulldorff and Jay Bhattacharya. Other members include Michael Yeadon, Clare Craig, Tess Lawrie and Anthony Hinton.
CDP Pandata Report
The World Freedom Alliance was created by members of the anti-vax World Doctors Alliance.It is an umbrella organisation for anti-vax and conspiracy theorists. The founder of the UK chapter, UK Medical Freedom Alliance is Liz Evans who is also a member of HART.
CDP World Freedom Alliance Report
Logically.AI’s initial report summarising the HARTleaks
https://www.logically.ai/articles/hart-files-anti-vaccine-myths-westminster
John Bye has produced a timeline of evidence from the HARTleaks demonstrating how members of HART group have developed close relationships with GB News and TalkRadio to promote false information.
GB News presenters have also supported the Together Declaration, a coalition of members from various groups known for promoting disinformation and conspiracy theories
Background, who owns GB News?
In June 2020 a new channel GB News was launched with £60million of initial funding from organisations including Legatum Group, GB News holding group is All Perspective Ltd controlled by Christopher Chandler, Legatum Group CEO Mark Stoleson and Alan McCormock, Chairman of Legatum Institute Foundation, founder of Legatum Institute and a Legatum Group Partner. Mathew Elliot, Senior Fellow of Legatum Institute was CEO of Vote Leave and the co-founder of the Taxpayers Alliance with Telegraph editor Allister Heath, and is involved in Big Brother Watch with Mark Littlewood of the IEA.
Legatum Institute and the Legatum Group, both funded by Legatum Limited a Dubai based private investment firm owned by New Zealand. The Legatum Group was founded by Chandler with money made as large shareholders of Gazprom, the state owned Russian gas giant, via Sovereign Global, a company he jointly owned with his brother Richard. The Legatum Institute has over 40 donors but its finances are opaque as a result of offshore funding and it has previously been found to have breached the Charity Commission's rules on impartiality after producing literature on post Brexit trade deals.
Ed Barker who provides PR services to Legatum also provides support for Conservative Way Forward and the Global Warming Policy Forum which both have links to US organisations of the radical right. Barker also works with Us For Them and the Covid Recovery Group of MPs who were revealed by the #HARTleaks to be actively working with HART to undermine public health messaging. The Covid Recovery Group has received funding from the opaque Recovery Alliance whose funding is unknown leading to the Electoral Commission raising concerns about dark money undermining the political system.
OpenDemocracy on Legatum
Byline Times Legatum and links to climate change denial
Byline Times Ed Barker and US links, Legatum and Russia links
Additional references
Guardian: Schools targeted by Anti-Vaxxers
Byline Times: The "Oxford Report" on Herd Immunity
Open Democracy: CRG and Dark Money
Byline Times: Us for Them, T4Recovery and the CRG
Byline Times: GBD and AIER
https://bylinetimes.com/2020/10/13/koch-funded-pr-agency-aided-great-barrington-declaration-sponsor/
Byline Times: GBD, AIER and MOD
BMJ: GBD and AIER
https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/09/13/covid-19-and-the-new-merchants-of-doubt/
Byline Times: Cambridge Analytica's Fagan and covid disinformation
LogicallyAI: The HART Leaks
https://www.logically.ai/articles/hart-files-anti-vaccine-myths-westminster
Daily Dot: HART Leaks and Conspiracy Theories
Reuters: Yeadon the Anti-Vaxxers' hero
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/health-coronavirus-vaccines-skeptic/
Time: America's Frontline Doctors and Ivermectin
The Times: Brady meets Anti-Vaxxers
The Independent: Brady meets with Anti-Vaxxers
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/covid-antivaxxers-graham-brady-meeting-b1930027.html
Byline Times: JCVI, MPs and Safer to Wait
BBC: HART Leaks and Safer to Wait
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58783711
Byline Times: APPG Bankrolled by Collateral Global
Guardian: World Doctors Alliance, joint members with Pandata and UK Medical Freedom Alliance
Conservative Way Forward and Mercer links
Global Warming Policy Forum and IEA/Atlas Network