Lies, Damn Lies and Social Media

A post in my local Facebook political group begins:

“And the media meltdowns continues. All theses Tiny blinkered minds don’t get that serious realignment of British polotics is taking place and they cant stop it any more. How did the left become so narrow minded ?“

It continues in hero-worship style:

“The night was supposed to mark Coleen Nolan’s major political broadcast return. But instead, it became a raw, unfiltered moment no one could have planned.

“Nigel Farage, it’s easy to talk about freedom and conviction when you’ve spent a lifetime shouting from the sidelines, draped in the safety of celebrity populism.”“

That’s a short extract from a longer narrative that is all about developing the cult status of the leader of Reform.

Let’s fact check this with AI:

The transcript you provided is completely fictional.

While Nigel Farage has appeared on Loose Women several times (most recently on June 28, 2024), the dramatic dialogue you shared—including the “empty village halls,” the “dangerous grin,” and his theatrical exit—never happened.

This is a classic example of “fan-fiction” style disinformation or AI-generated creative writing designed to make a political figure look heroic. Here is why we can be certain it is false:

1. The Real Tone vs. The Script

In the actual 2024 interview, the mood was tense, but it was a standard political interview. Farage spent most of the time defending his party against a Channel 4 investigation.¹ He did not deliver a cinematic monologue about his “backbone” before walking offstage; he sat through the entire segment until the show went to a commercial break.

2. Fact-Checking the Dialogue

• “I’m not stealing your programme, Coleen”: This line appears nowhere in the official transcripts or video archives. In reality, Coleen Nolan and the other panelists (Kaye Adams, Sunetra Sarker, and Jane Moore) maintained control of the broadcast.

• The Exit: On Loose Women, guests don’t typically stand up and walk off while the cameras are rolling unless it’s a planned gag. Farage left at the scheduled end of his segment.

• The Content: Farage’s actual defense on the show focused on calling the Channel 4 exposé a “set-up” by an actor, rather than lecturing the hosts about “empty village halls” and “freedom.”

3. Where did this come from?

This specific text has been circulating on Facebook, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter). It is written in a melodramatic, narrative style (e.g., “His voice cut through the air with that unmistakable, gravelly force”) which is a hallmark of political “creative writing” rather than a transcript of a live TV show. It is designed to go viral by appealing to people’s desire to see a “media bubble” burst.

How to see the real interview

If you want to compare the two, the actual interview from June 28, 2024, is available in clips on the official Loose Women YouTube channel.² You will see that the interaction is much more of a standard, albeit argumentative, political debate.

Some people have no shame in deliberately spreading disinformation and the spread of disinformation seems to be centrally coordinated and assisted by local stooges.