On Monday, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) launched an initiative named ‘BBC Verify’ to address the growing ‘threat of disinformation’ and build trust with audiences through transparency. The corporation which itself has a history of spreading fake news several times in the past, said that it wanted to show people not only what it knows but also how it knows what it knows.
“We’ve brought together forensic journalists and expert talent from across the BBC, including our analysis editor Ros Atkins and disinformation correspondent Marianna Spring and their teams. They’ll be fact-checking, verifying video, countering disinformation, analysing data and – crucially – explaining complex stories in the pursuit of truth,” the BBC said in the statement of its new brand release.
BBC News has unveiled BBC Verify to address the growing threat of disinformation and build trust with audiences through transparency.
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) May 22, 2023
The BBC's Disinformation Correspondent Marianna Spring had more details on #BBCBreakfast https://t.co/00Nv9Z7Xlm pic.twitter.com/bZ23An2VhL
BBC to use fake profiles to check social media working
Interestingly, BBC’s Disinformation Correspondent Marianna Spring also revealed that she had created fake social media profiles with names and computer-generated photos to check on the political polarization in the country and to just check how social media works. “I have some undercover accounts set up for BBC’s Americast podcast. These accounts help in understanding the polarization online and really what’s happening on the social media feeds and what is being recommended and pushed to us can affect all of us. They don’t provide us exhaustive insight but they can help us in understanding how social media really works,” Spring said while explaining the BBC verify strategies and tools.
Essentially, the BBC wants to “fact check” disinformation and understand polarisation by creating fake social media profiles which in itself is ‘misinformation’ and perhaps, could potentially end up worsening the polarisation that BBC aims to understand.
Fake profiles were created during US midterm elections 2022
The ‘undercover accounts’ created by Spring for BBC’s Americast podcast are Larry, the Faith and Flag conservative; Britney from the Populist Right; Gabriela, the less political Stressed Sideliner; Michael, the Democratic Mainstay; and Emma from the Progressive Left. These accounts are not new but were created during the US midterm elections in 2022. According to Spring, she reportedly had created these accounts to check what voters were recommended online at a turbulent time for US politics.
Spring then also revealed that her fake friends who were created based on the data from Pew Research Center, had been recommended and allegedly influenced by the social media platforms during the elections. For instance, Britney (Populist Right) had come across false claims on TikTok that Trump really won the 2020 election – sometimes referencing the raid on Mar-A-Lago and using violent rhetoric. The account has also been exposed to and recommended pages promoting false claims the election was rigged on Insta and Facebook.
She's come across false claims on TikTok that Trump really won the 2020 election – sometimes referencing the raid on Mar-A-Lago & using violent rhetoric. The account has also been exposed to & recommended pages promoting false claims the election was rigged on Insta and Facebook pic.twitter.com/P0pVgiagPm
— Marianna Spring (@mariannaspring) September 1, 2022
Further, Michael (Democratic Mainstay) came across lots of content from the Democrat party. “His accounts have also been pushed memes like this one enjoying the investigation into Trump,” Spring tweeted.
Unsurprisingly as he follows them, Michael has come across lots of content from the Democrat party.
— Marianna Spring (@mariannaspring) September 1, 2022
His accounts have also been pushed memes like this one enjoying the investigation into Trump. pic.twitter.com/Q1YlH4eJKx
Ironically, the BBC indicated that it would continue to use these fake profiles to verify videos, counter disinformation and explain complex stories in the ‘pursuit of truth’. “This is a different way of doing our journalism. We’ve built a physical space in the London newsroom, with a studio that BBC Verify correspondents and experts will report from, transparently sharing their evidence-gathering with our audiences. They will contribute to News Online, radio and TV, including the News Channel and our life and breaking streaming operation, both in the UK and internationally,” the statement added.
The idea to launch BBC Verify seems to have emerged on May 3 when video footage showing two drones crashing into a dome of the Kremlin complex in Moscow appeared on social media. The BBC analyzed that it was difficult for people to believe whether the video was true or fake and that the consumers had a hard time trusting the reels in their news feeds. “Which is why we at the BBC thought of urgently beginning to show and share the work we do behind the scenes, to check and verify information and video content before it appears on the platforms,” BBC added.
BBC’s history of sharing fake news
Notably, the BBC has been criticized and accused of sharing fake news itself umpteen times in the past. There are countless reports, but here are the crucial ones. In 2021, as Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath marked the completion of four years of his government in the state, he highlighted the achievements of his government. However, the BBC didn’t agree with the claims made by the chief minister and tried to insinuate that Yogi Adityanath was making false claims about his government’s achievements.
British state-run media British Broadcasting Company (BBC), which has many a time outdone itself when it comes to peddling anti-Modi, anti-India rhetorics, published a report on its Hindi website trying to confute Yogi Adityanath’s claims. In its report headlined, “The truth of Yogi Adityanath’s four-year report card claims in UP”, BBC Hindi rolled out figures to refute Yogi’s claims. However, the UP Police took to Twitter to release the actual figures, which busted BBC’s propaganda against the Yogi Government.
राज्यों के अपराधों की समीक्षा का सर्वमान्य संकेतक NCRB के अनुसार भी अपराध की दर(Crime Rate) है न कि कुल अपराधों की संख्या का योग। NCRB 2019 के अनुसार क्राइम रेट के आधार पर कुल आईपीसी में उत्तर प्रदेश का देश में 25 वाँ स्थान है जो अधिकांश बड़े राज्यों से बेहतर है।#UPPolice (2/5) pic.twitter.com/JwkpdhZmQ3
— UP POLICE (@Uppolice) March 24, 2021
Also, in 2021, when the Taliban took over the Afghanistan government, the BBC made sure that the world legitimises the Taliban. On September 8, 2021, BBC wrote a detailed profile on the cabinet ministers that were selected by the Taliban to lead the nation. 17 out of the 33 cabinet ministers were terrorists. The BBC conveniently left out this detail from their profile. The corporation simply forgot to mention that the selected ministers were on the US terror watch list. In fact, it did not even mention Pakistan or the ISI once in their profile.
In this detailed account of the Gallery of Monsters, this BBC article doesn't mention Pakistan or the ISI once. It's like discussing the recipe for gajjar-ka-halva without mentioning it has gajjar. https://t.co/7DkKnMKljk
— (((Christine Fair))) (@CChristineFair) September 8, 2021
Defamation suits fled against BBC for defaming PM Modi and India
BBC has time and again published fabricated reports on the Kashmir issue in India and also defamed PM Modi. It has published several discredited reports furthering the anti-India stance at the global level. Recently, in January, it published a documentary on the Gujarat riots and attempted to defame PM Modi, BJP, RSS and the VHP. The BBC through the documentary named ‘India: The Modi Question’ attempted to push a particular discredited narrative. The propaganda piece lacked objectivity and exposed the colonial mindset and the bias of the corporation.
The controversial documentary was banned by the government on January 24 this year. However, the links to the same were illegally made available by the BBC through the Wikipedia page and the Internet Archives. The illegal links were taken down from Internet Archives after the BJP leader filed a defamation suit against BBC, Wikipedia and Internet Archives. The links to the documentary on the BBC portal are yet to be taken down from the Wikipedia page, though inoperative.
The BBC during the recent hearing blatantly argued that it is a foreign entity and that the Delhi court did not have the jurisdiction to deal with the defamation case filed against it. Another defamation case has also been filed in the Delhi High Court against BBC for defaming India, its judiciary, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The lawsuit has been brought by the Gujarat-based NGO ‘Justice for Trial’.
Notably, though the documentary has been banned by the Indian government, the jurisdiction of this ban is limited in India, and the two-part documentary is legally available outside India.
BBC to also show ‘how it knows’ what it knows
The BBC who has history of sharing fake news and publishing propaganda online has now strangely launched a new brand to counter disinformation. It has also revealed that it would be using fake profiles on the social media to analyze the polarization online. This can be risky as each of the fake profiles created on the social media houses diverse ideologies which can ultimately influence and further the selective agenda at selective required time, of course with the aid of social media recommendations.
Further, the BBC also said that it would show its audiences not only what it knows but also how it knows what it knows. Disclosing the working tactics of one journalistic organization can also prove risky. This is because while one section of the social media users would know the ‘truth’ and start trusting the corporation, the other section who consists of the offenders, fake news spreaders and propagandists and that category of individuals, would know the internal investigative, journalistic workings and would plan their agendas accordingly, probably leaving no traces of evidences for people to know the truth.
