A legal view on the airing of controversial health claims on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast

In December, the BBC’s Global Misinformation Unit published an article claiming that Steven Bartlett is amplifying harmful health claims on his podcast. The BBC’s analysis of 15 health-related episodes apparently uncovered an average of 14 harmful health claims. One controversial health claim aired in a conversation between Bartlett and the biochemist and glucose influencer Jessica Inchauspé:

Bartlett: “Have you seen a woman reverse her PCOS [polycystic ovary syndrome] symptoms?”

Inchauspé: “Tons. In my second book, I ran a study. Three females who were… doing my hacks for just a month got their period back in that month and were able to get pregnant in that month, just with my hacks. I see PCOS reversal all the time.”

Bartlett: “So these hacks, you say those three women used to help reverse their PCOS symptoms. What are the hacks?

Inchauspé: “The ones they did were savoury breakfast, vinegar once a day, veggie starters and moving after eating. These are four hacks that are the most important ones of my ten hacks that I’ve put together in the Four Week Method [a reference to one of Inchauspé’s books]. 

Is there a legal issue here?

Making these claims in a podcast - while it might be sensationalist and arguably raise false hope among PCOS sufferers who are trying for a baby – is not necessarily unlawful, and it is unclear what if any UK regulator would be concerned with these claims.

If Inchauspé’s health claim had appeared in an advert, a complaint could be made to the Advertising Standard Agency (ASA) for a potential breach of adverting codes and underlying consumer law.

The YouTube version of the podcast would be in Ofcom’s remit and would therefore need to comply with the Broadcasting Code, rule 2.1 of which requires broadcasters to protect their audience from potentially harmful content. However, set against that obligation is broadcasters’ and audiences’ rights to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the case of Bartlett and Inchauspé’s conversation, it is doubtful whether Ofcom would consider it proportionate to intervene.

This may be a case of ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it’ (Evelyn Beatrice Hall’s description of Voltaire’s beliefs in her 1903 biography).