If you like your News Feed on Facebook to include a steady stream of sunset photos, Buddha memes, and inspirational quotes from the likes of Bob Marley and the Dalai Lama, you might be among the 2 million people who have followed a page called "Energy Therapy UK" since it was created in 2009.



It was set up by London-based yoga teachers Jaime and Jennifer Tanna, who say they seek to “educate the public about energy healing, personal growth and valid alternative approaches to health and wellbeing”.

In addition to posting uplifting memes, the page also sells remote tarot readings and online sessions devoted to “chakra healing” and “spiritual restructuring”.

But in recent weeks, it has sharply changed tack.

It now pumps out material about the coronavirus pandemic, which has been branded as a mix of conspiracy theories and debunked hoaxes by researchers, who last week described it as one of the world’s biggest “super-spreaders” of misinformation about COVID-19.



Many recent posts have been flagged as “false” by Facebook’s fact-checkers or removed by the platform altogether, leading to a backlash among some followers and the page admins claiming censorship.

According to NewsGuard — a website that gives “trust” ratings to news sites — this is an example of a wider trend: Pages devoted to spirituality and alternative therapies are becoming a major source of misleading information about the pandemic.

The page’s gentle, uplifting posts about spirituality and nature often get shared hundreds or thousands of times on Facebook by people who may not be aware of the source but help Energy Therapy UK pile on new followers.

