Donald Trump has removed the BBC’s commercial arm from his defamation lawsuit over a controversial episode of Panorama, but the US president is still pursuing his multi-billion dollar claim against the BBC as a whole. The Trump BBC Panorama lawsuit now proceeds solely against the broadcaster’s core corporate entity.
Last December, Trump sued the BBC and its subsidiaries, BBC Studios Productions and BBC Studios Distribution, over a 2024 Panorama episode that edited together different sections of a speech he gave. The BBC argued that the Studios companies had no role in creating or producing the documentary, and did not broadcast it in the US.
Studios Companies Dismissed From the Case
A court filing on Thursday confirmed Trump’s agreement that the claims against BBC Studios should be dismissed, but added that Trump would continue prosecuting his causes of action against the BBC itself.
Trump is suing for up to $10 billion (£7.4 billion) over the way Panorama spliced together a speech he made before the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The lawsuit, filed in Florida, accuses the BBC of intentionally, maliciously and deceptively doctoring his speech.
BBC Apologises but Seeks Dismissal
The BBC has apologised for an editing error that gave what it described as the mistaken impression that Trump had made a direct call for violent action. However, the broadcaster has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit entirely, arguing that the programme does not meet the legal criteria for defamation and was not made available on its US platforms.
Last month, Trump’s lawyers admitted they had no evidence that the documentary was available in the US on the BBC’s BritBox subscription service, as they had originally claimed, or on BBC.com, BBC Select, or through US broadcasters.
Trump’s Lawyers Push Back on Dismissal Bid
Earlier this week, the president’s lawyers challenged the BBC’s motion to dismiss the claim, arguing the broadcaster had put forward what they called an untenable proposition, and that dismissing the case would be a wrongful and unjust result. They said a jury should decide the defamation issue, and argued that the BBC’s geo-blocking technology did not reliably prevent US-based viewers from watching its UK-only iPlayer streaming platform.
They also said the documentary’s production staff had given several people instructions on how to watch it in the US, and pointed to a promotional post about the programme on X. “Together, the evidence shows coordinated BBC conduct directed toward the United States, not ‘mere accessibility,'” the legal filing said. It further argued that the BBC had created an election-timed documentary about a Florida-resident US presidential candidate, promoted it globally through an unrestricted official channel, and positioned it for international and US consumption.
US Government Weighing Involvement
Last month, the US government said it was considering participating in the litigation, after the BBC served subpoenas for information from a number of federal agencies. A trial date in February 2027 has been scheduled, should the case progress that far.
Fallout at the BBC
Criticism of the Panorama edit first emerged last November, when a leaked internal BBC memo was published by The Telegraph. The controversy led to the resignations of the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness.
