More than 40% of British voters have read inaccurate stories claiming Conservative MPs voted that animals "cannot feel pain or emotions", according to new polling by YouGov that provides further evidence of how political stories that exist almost entirely on social media are potentially influencing vast swaths of the population.

The research, conducted for BuzzFeed News, shows two-fifths of respondents said they were aware of the story, with most saying they'd read about it on social media.



The digital-only Independent and the websites of the London Evening Standard and Metro were the only established news outlets that covered the animal sentience story.

Their coverage – which was based on a misleading interpretation of what happened to an amendment tabled by Green MP Caroline Lucas for Brexit legislation to explicitly recognise the pain felt by animals – went mega-viral. One piece by the Independent is likely to be the single most viral UK political article of 2017, a year that featured a general election.

Tory MPs were told to vote against the motion on the basis that animal sentience was already covered by existing UK law.



The government strongly disputed the reporting of the story and blamed badly phrased viral headlines, but Downing Street and Conservative HQ were nevertheless forced to spend a week fighting back against, with mixed success.



By the end of the week, environment secretary Michael Gove was issuing written statements to parliament and declaring that Brexit would be good for animals.