Translated with AI
US President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the British media company BBC, accusing it of defamation and interference in the US presidential election. The lawsuit was filed on December 15 in a Florida court.
The White House chief had previously suggested the possibility of filing a lawsuit for between $1 billion and $5 billion, but the claim was ultimately increased to $10 billion. The lawsuit stemmed from a dispute over the editing of Trump's January 6, 2021, speech used on the Panorama program, which aired shortly before the November 2024 presidential election. Trump defeated Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in that election.
The lawsuit alleges that the BBC portrayed the US president in a "false, defamatory, misleading, derogatory, inflammatory, and malicious" manner. Trump claims the media company knowingly interfered with the election process and sought to influence its outcome to his detriment.
The program in question covered the events of January 6, 2021, when the Capitol was stormed in Washington during the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, which Joe Biden won. The BBC used clips from various parts of Trump's speech in the program, editing them into a single video sequence. According to the plaintiff, this editing created the impression that the president was directly inciting his supporters to violence.
The BBC previously acknowledged that editing may have given viewers a false impression of the content of Trump's speech and apologized. The media company also announced that the program would no longer be broadcast. However, the BBC refused to pay compensation, declaring that there were no grounds for a libel claim.
In the lawsuit, Trump claims the media company deliberately excluded important parts of his speech, misrepresenting his remarks. This episode previously contributed to the resignations of BBC Director-General Tim Davie and the corporation's head of news, Deborah Turness.
Trump also stated that pressure on the media is a necessary measure in a situation where, in his view, major media companies are systematically spreading false information about him. The US president has previously filed lawsuits against American television networks CBS and ABC, as well as The New York Times. In several cases, the parties reached settlements without taking the cases to court.
