BBC will stay on X to try to resist ‘flood’ of global misinformation

The BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, has said he will not be taking the broadcaster off Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, saying its presence is needed to resist a flood of global misinformation.

- Michael Savage

Davie said he had come under pressure to withdraw from the platform, given numerous complaints that it has shifted significantly to the right under Musk’s ownership. The site is also facing a backlash over a wave of images of women and children with their clothes digitally removed, generated by X’s Grok Al tool.

Appearing before MPs to discuss the BBC’s efforts to counter misinformation, Davie said he had rejected calls to no longer use X. He said the BBC had to reach vulnerable young audiences around the world and said the likes of China and Iran were “flooding the zone”.

“T have quite a lot of pressure to remove the BBC from X,” he said. “By the way, that is not what I’ll be doing because we need to be on these platforms. We need to give quality information on to these social media platforms, bring people in. I actually think that’s critical, because otherwise the Chinese, the Iranians - they’re flooding the zone. They’re investing very hard.

“We are in a position where the majority of 16 to 34s come to BBC every week - we're still fighting that battle.”