FACT CHECK

It’s not true the BBC decided against showing Dame Vera Lynn’s funeral live

Multiple Facebook posts shared thousands of times in total claim that the BBC decided not to broadcast live the funeral of Dame Vera Lynn, but did broadcast live the funeral of George Floyd. This is not correct. 

The funeral of George Floyd was broadcast live, but while Dame Vera’s funeral was a private event, certain events around the funeral were public, including a flypast of two Spitfires by the Royal Airforce (video of which was shared by the BBC on Twitter) and a procession through the streets of Ditchling, in East Sussex, where she had lived. This procession was broadcast live on BBC News.

Bad information ruins lives—it can damage our health, finances and, as this week’s parliamentary report into Russian interference noted, our democracy.

Many of the headlines focused on the influence malicious foreign actors may have wielded over the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and the 2016 Brexit vote, and rightly so.

But our dangerously out of date election laws have left our elections wide open to disinformation and abuse.We need urgent legislation which allows everyone to see all political adverts issued during election campaigns—and tells us who has paid for them.

We should also follow the example of Canada, which has established a process for sharing warnings of election and referendum interference with the voters.

As the Russia Report notes, we may never know the extent of foreign interference in our recent elections. But the least the government can do is plug the gaps in our existing laws and infrastructure which have left us horribly exposed to disinformation campaigns. We all deserve better.

Will Moy, Chief Executive of Full Fact
 

FACT CHECK

Not all Tesco meat is halal

A post on Facebook with over 1,000 shares claims that all meat sold at Tesco is halal, except pork produce.

This is not true. Tesco sells halal meat in some of its stores but not all of its meat is halal.

‘Halal’ in the context of meat consumption refers to the process of slaughtering the animal in accordance with Islamic law. There are several parts to this process.

Tesco confirmed that, for customers who do not want to eat halal meat, British Organic lamb as well as British Organic, Free Range and Finest Free Range chicken has not received a Halal blessing. ​