An Edinburgh Marks & Spencer branch have been questioned after a bundle of 'anti-vax' newspapers were seen in their store.
A pile of 'The Light' newspapers were on show at the Fort Kinnaird store recently, with one person taking a video and sending it to the company on Twitter, demanding answers.
However, it appears that the papers had been dumped by someone without the supermarket knowing so.
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The Light brands themselves as a 'truthpaper' and have been the centre of controversy over their views on Covid restrictions, amongst various others.
In 2020, The Guardian reported that the editor of the publication sold 9/11 conspiracy merchandise and anti-vaccination t-shirts.
The paper has, during the pandemic, encourage people to ignore the laws surrounding face coverings and tried to convince members of the public that Covid is a hoax.
It was also reported that the publication recruits writers through the likes of Twitter and Facebook.
One shocked customer in M&S this week was incredibly surprised to see multiple copies of the paper amongst others in that particular section.
They took to Twitter, saying: "Hello Marks and Spencer, any reason why this anti-vax conspiracy newspaper is distributed in your stores? This is Fort Kinnaird, Edinburgh. Watch out folks, bad actors at The Light Paper are at it."
M&S replied to the tweet saying that it had been passed on to their store management to review.
Since then, it has become apparent that the most likely cause of this was someone dumping copies of the paper without the store noticing, as the supermarket confirmed that it is not a publication that they stock.
The bundle of papers are also seen in a case that is dedicated to a separate paper, making it likely that they were put there by a customer.
Shaun, the customer who noticed the papers, added a further comment on the matter, whilst also acknowledging that they were more than likely dumped by someone spreading such propaganda.
He added: "I had no idea what The Light was, but after a few seconds reading the front page, it was very clearly an extreme anti-vaccine and conspiracy publication. I've no idea who funds this thing or who distributes them, but seeing them on the shelves at M&S gives them credibility to the unknowing public.
"I had a pretty good idea that a bad actor put them there without M&S knowing, so I informed the store manager, who immediately removed them. However, when I left the store, I saw more copies in front of other well established newspapers so their distributor was obviously there too.
"We are living in an age of misinformation and fake news, and we need to stay vigilant to keep unknowing public from being inadvertedly propagandised to. I know this won't have been M&S' fault but I think all news vendors should stay alert."
A spokeswoman for Marks & Spencer confirmed that it is not a publication they stock. They added: "We confirm this is not a publication stocked by M&S. Any unsolicited material like this will always be removed when drawn to our attention."
