Facebook Covid hoaxers allowed to keep spreading bogus claims about empty hospitals and vaccine conspiracies
COVID hoaxers are being allowed to keep spreading bogus claims on Facebook about empty hospitals and vaccine conspiracies.
One former NHS worker who called Covid a "load of b******s" boasted she swerved a 30-day ban from the social media giants by using a back-up account.
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Louise Hampton, 37, who has become a figurehead for Covid conspiracy theorists, has claimed people are "afraid to go to hospitals" and that the Government has just "rebranded the flu".
She bragged about swerving a month-long Facebook ban to continue spouting anti-lockdown theories and air the views of other Covid cranks by setting up a back-up profile page with almost 6,000 followers.
Another woman, Hannah Dean, was fined £200 for filming inside hospitals and falsely claimed they are not busy with Covid patients.
But videos from the hospitals can still be seen on her Facebook page despite police fining her for the "highly disrespectful and misleading" stunt.
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Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, an intensive care registrar, said doctors and nurses on the frontline of the pandemic are being targeted by social media trolls.
One video shared by Hampton to her followers shows an anti-lockdown protest on January 2 at London's Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park.
Piers Corbyn was among 17 demonstrators arrested at the rally as Covid infections surged to record highs in the UK.
Hampton is heard encouraging demonstrators: "Come on people, play them at their own game.
"March, army-style, two by two."
In another video, posted on December 29 from her back-up account to her main account, she bragged she would "never" take a "V-A-C-C-I-N-E".
Making a mockery of her social media ban, she wrote on January 14: "Finally off a 30 Day Ban! I was posting off my backup account."
Anti-vaxxer Hampton has previously attacked the family of Margaret Keenan, the 91-year-old British gran who became the first person in the world to be vaccinated against Covid.
Hampton said at the time: "Shame on Margaret’s Family for allowing this!!!! Using Granny as a guinea pig! Maggie’s jab is merely a MARKETING PLOY!!’"
Facebook has launched an investigation and removed this particular video but her accounts remain active.
Another anti-lockdown hoaxer was fined £200 by cops after filming inside hospitals.
Mum-of-two Ms Dean, 30, from Portsmouth, posed as a journalist to enter hospitals before falsely claiming they were empty.
Shame on Margaret’s Family for allowing this. Using Granny as a guinea pig! Maggie’s jab is merely a MARKETING PLOY
Louise Hampton after Brit gran Margaret Keenan, 91, was the first person in the world to receive a Covid vaccine
The videos "caused angst in the community," Hampshire Police said.
But her Facebook page still features pictures and videos from "empty" hospitals around the UK.
In one post she uses the hashtag #filmyourhospitals.
Another video she has posted is entitled Exposing Satanic World Government and attacks police for enforcing Covid regulations.
In one post she wrote: "Hospital is the quietest I have ever seen it! I walked all over the hospital, including A&E!
"I know this is hard to get our heads around, but the government are lying to us! And the reason why they’re lying to us….. is very disturbing!"
At a Downing Street press conference this month, NHS England head Sir Simon Stevens blasted claims that hospitals were empty as "simply untrue".
He said: "When people say that coronavirus is a hoax, it is a lie.
“If you sneak into a hospital at 9pm and film an empty corridor and then stick it on social media claiming it ‘proves hospitals are empty’, you are responsible for changing behaviour that will kill people.
“It is also an insult for the nurse coming home from 12 hours working in critical care having worked her guts out under the most demanding and trying of circumstances.
“There is nothing more demoralising than having that kind of nonsense spouted when it is most obviously untrue.”
Boris Johnson said: “The kind of people who say Covid is a hoax, they need to grow up.
“You've heard from the head of NHS England the pressure the NHS is under. We’ve got to do our bit to protect it.”
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Meanwhile, Dr Batt-Rawden, who works in intensive care in the South East, said she's been sworn at and called names during a campaign of shocking abuse from people who believe coronavirus is a "hoax".
She said she's sent up to 30 abusive messages every day - with the thugs telling her "I don't give a f*** who's dying" and "you chose your job, deal with it".
One even said: "I couldn't care less who I apparently murder by not wearing a mask.
"F*** off and die."
Dr Batt-Rawden, who has worked in the NHS for a decade, told BBC London: "We've actually had quite a lot of abuse, particularly on social media.
"It's mainly around that Covid is somehow a hoax or a conspiracy - people just not believing the NHS staff who are trying to speak up about how bad things are on frontline at the moment."
After a series of videos showing "empty" hospitals came to light last week Hampshire Police spokesman posted: "Some of you will have seen the reports of persons attending local hospitals, taking photos of parts of the hospital that are not on the frontline in the fight against Covid-19, and using the images to suggest our hospitals are not being stretched.
"These actions have caused angst in the community, and have prompted a number of calls to us reporting the posts.
"Our colleagues across the NHS are working flat out to fight this virus, and we are all grateful for their continued efforts.
"There has been lots of publicity this weekend about us all doing our bit to stick to the rules and guidelines to support our NHS - we urge each and everyone of you to do the same."
But Ms Dean - who claims she is a "registered journalist" - took to Facebook to deny the claims.
She wrote: "Hampshire Constabulary Have confirmed to me in writing, that they have no grounds to detain me and I am not obliged to talk with them.
I have not been probed by them… I am not under investigation! There is not a warrant for my arrest! And I have not been fined!!!!
Sun Online has contacted Facebook for comment.
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A spokesman for the social media giant has previously said they remove Covid-19 "misinformation that could lead to imminent physical harm, such as incorrect claims about cures or false information about approved vaccines."
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Between March and October Facebook took down more than 12million pieces of such content on Facebook and Instagram.
It has banned adverts that include vaccine hoaxes or discourage people from getting a vaccine, a spokesman added.