We have asked the FTC to investigate how the BBC markets its news to Americans.
The BBC sells its news in the United States on a promise of impartiality. Our complaint documents the record behind that promise. Read it, then add your own report to the FTC in about ten minutes.
Filed by Israel Media Monitor LLC. FTC Reference No. 20626555124, supplementing Online Report No. 205810392.
Our mission
Israel Media Monitor promotes accurate public understanding of Israel, Jewish history and the partnership between Israel, the United States and the international community. Israeli innovation in health care, agriculture, water, food, climate technology and defense benefits people everywhere. False claims about Israel fuel antisemitic acts against Jews, divide communities in the United States and around the world, and keep the public from those benefits. Through research, public education and regulatory action, we hold the media to accurate reporting.
What the complaint says
The complaint treats the BBC the way the FTC treats any company selling a product on a false description. It is brought under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits deceptive acts and practices in commerce.
What the BBC sells
A paid BBC.com subscription, advertising, sponsorship and licensed content, all marketed to U.S. consumers and businesses as trusted, impartial news.
What the record shows
Regulatory findings, independent studies and BBC corrections documenting a sustained pattern of impartiality breaches in coverage of Israel, along with BBC Arabic's adoption of Hezbollah's own terminology.
Undisclosed relationships
Paid BBC promotional content for Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and reporting access to Iran on Iranian terms, while BBC News covers those same governments.
What we ask the FTC to do
Investigate, order the BBC to remove its impartiality representations from U.S. marketing with penalties for noncompliance, require corrective disclosure, and examine its ties to Iran, Qatar and Turkey.
File your own FTC report
The FTC reviews public reports to spot patterns and decide what to investigate. Each report is logged separately, so reports from many consumers and organizations, each describing its own experience, show the Commission how widely this reaches.
Choose the statements that are true for you below. The page writes your report text as you go. Copy it, then follow the four steps.
Your report text
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Copy your report text
Use the Copy report text button above. Have it ready before you open the FTC form, which is completed in one sitting.
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Open the FTC's reporting site and choose a category
Go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov and select Report Now. Choose the category closest to your situation; if none fits, choose Something Else.
Prefer the phone? Call the FTC at 1-877-382-4357.
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Name the company and paste your text
When the form asks for the company, enter:
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) bbc.com
Paste your report text into the description box, then submit. Save or print the report number the FTC gives you.
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Tell us you filed
Send us your report number so we can track the response and, with your permission, list your organization as a supporter.
Organizations can also mail the printed, signed letter with the report number on page one to: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610, Washington, DC 20580. Use tracked delivery.
For a strong report
- Write about your own experience in your own words.
- Cite specific BBC reports by date and link.
- Keep our report numbers in your text so the FTC can connect the filings.
Keep it accurate
- Include only statements you can support, and present disputed points as your belief or as what a source reports.
- Describe Qatar's and Turkey's support for Hamas through the documented facts. Reserve the term "State Sponsor of Terrorism" for Iran, which holds that formal U.S. designation.
- Keep the focus on what the BBC sells to U.S. consumers and whether the product matches the label. The FTC makes its own decisions about investigations and does not comment on them.