Fresh fury as Covid conspiracy paper on counters at Doncaster newsagents

The Light, which describes itself as a ‘truthpaper’ has been circulating in Doncaster in recent months, with copies handed out in the town centre by campaigners who say coronavirus is a hoax.

The publication – which is packed with dozens of coronavirus conspiracy theories - was then delivered to a number of homes in Doncaster.

Now it has emerged that a number of newsagents in Doncaster are giving away the publication, with fears that vendors may have been duped into displaying it alongside traditional tabloids.

One angry customer contacted the Free Press after spotting The Light on the counter of his local newsagent.

He said: “It was there as bold as brass alongside stuff like The Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror.

"When I told the shopkeeper that it was Covid denying, the guy had no idea.

"He just said a man had come in with a bundle of free newspapers and asked if he wouldn’t mind giving them away. He just told him they were free but didn’t say anything about what was inside it.

“When I told him he was shocked and said he would stop stocking it."

The man, who has declined to be named, says he visited a number of other newsagents in the area and found several also had it on their shelves.

"People are entitled to their views – and that includes conspiracy theorists, even if they are all nuts,” he added. “But this is dangerous misinformation and people could die by taking on board what’s in there.”

Copies of The Light, which describes itself as ‘the only paper telling you the truth’ and ‘free from the establishment’ were being given away in the town centre before Christmas and editions have since been pushed through doors of homes across Doncaster and South Yorkshire.

Those handing out the paper were also criticised for deliberately targeting teenagers and younger people.

The publication has been dubbed ‘dangerous’ for spreading false and misleading information about vaccines as well as numerous Covid-19 conspiracy theories.

The self-published “truthpaper” is edited by Manchester man Darren Smith who runs a business selling anti-vaccine T-shirts and 9/11 conspiracy merchandise.

The outlet, which has published dozens of issues since it first appeared last September, features articles about the New World Order supposedly behind Covid, urges rejecting vaccines and not to wear masks, calling coronavirus a hoax.

Newspapers are distributed by a 5,000-strong private Facebook group where volunteers offer to hand out copies and post them through their neighbours’ doors.

Its Twitter accounts have been suspended for peddling Covid misinformation and the print publication regularly draws on baseless claims about Bill Gates, global plots and mind control using vaccines. It calls for modern-day “Nuremberg trials” for ‘main stream media’ journalists it says are following agendas.

Smith, the Light’s founder and editor, who performs as Darren Nesbitt, said the paper is distributed by anti-vaxx supporters and Covid-deniers.