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TELL OFCOM: Stop Ludicrous Net Zero Claims

Watch: GB News broadcast gives airtime to an outlandishly extreme claim that if net zero policies are implemented then ‘half the population will die’

Read our complaint on GB News

On 14 April 2024, GB News’s Neil Oliver Show violated Ofcom’s broadcasting rule 5.1 by airing unsubstantiated claims about climate change without challenge. Guest Jasmine Birtles propagated baseless assertions claiming the ‘depopulation agenda’ was tied to achieving net zero carbon emissions. Most egregiously, she repeated the ludicrous claim that the net zero goal was a deliberate attempt to cause mass deaths and thereby ‘remove seven and a half billion people from the world’.
The programme failed to meet the standards of accuracy and impartiality required under Ofcom’s regulations.

Submit your complaint to Ofcom using this form and by following the guidance below.

Programme details

Programme title: The Neil Oliver Show
Date of broadcast: 14 April 2024
Time of broadcast (24 hour clock): 18:53
Channel / station: GB News

Your complaint

Subject: GB News’s Neil Oliver Show on 14 April 2024 breached Ofcom’s broadcasting rule 5.1, by airing false, unsubstantiated claims about climate change which went unchallenged by the presenter.

Description:

Here’s a few bullet points to include:

  • The host interviewed guest Jasmine Birtles, who, quoting Patrick Moore, spread the ludicrous claim that if net zero policies are implemented then ‘half the population will die’, adding ‘many will say that that’s part of the point’.
  • The guest falsely linked net zero policies to the so-called ‘depopulation agenda’, which seeks to ‘remove seven and a half billion people from the world.’
  • In this segment, GB News broke rule 5.1, by failing to report with due accuracy and impartiality. There is no evidence that the ‘point’ of net zero targets is to cause mass deaths and ‘remove seven and a half billion people from the world’. Likewise, the claimed existence of a ‘depopulation agenda’, linked to net zero targets, is an unfounded conspiracy theory.
  • The host failed to provide any opposing viewpoints or clarification on the inaccurate information within this programme, thereby violating Ofcom’s impartiality rule.

This page includes all the information you need to lodge a complaint to Ofcom. 

Deadline for complaints: May 10, 2024 11:59 pm

Submitting a complaint to Ofcom should take you less than 10 minutes and is completed via a form on their website.

Go straight to OFCOM
Read our guide

Submitting a complaint to Ofcom should take you less than 10 minutes and is completed via a form on their website.

  • Ofcom is the UK’s public regulator for communications services. Among other responsibilities, their job is to ensure that TV channels uphold the Broadcasting Code. This code requires broadcasters to protect the public from harmful and offensive material, avoid unjust or unfair treatment of individuals and organisations, and report the news with due accuracy and impartiality.
  • Ofcom has real power to yield. Sanctions they can issue include directions not to repeat content, fines — and crucially, the power to suspend or revoke a TV channel’s licence to broadcast.
  • Ofcom must carefully consider every single complaint to see if their rules have been broken. If the complaint is strong, Ofcom will launch a formal investigation process.
  • Ofcom will not reply to each specific complaint but instead publishes records of the complaints received, investigations underway and breaches on their website, every fortnight.
  • Complaints must be about a specific breach of the code and submitted within 20 days of the program going to air.