BBC’s new rules restrict staff from posting personal views on social media

New rules will apply whether online platforms are being used ‘professionally or personally’. BBC employees also aren’t allowed to criticise colleagues publicly.

Umbrellas featuring BBC News logo in London | Photo: Simon Dawson | Bloomberg File Photo

New Delhi: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has issued extensive guidelines warning employees not to “express a personal opinion on matters of public policy, politics, or controversial subjects” as part of a slew of new social media rules announced Thursday.

Employees are also not allowed to criticise colleagues in public, and the new rules will apply whether online platforms are being used “professionally or personally”.

BBC director general Tim Davie, who pledged to impose new social media rules last month, said he would be willing to fire presenters who violate the guidelines.

The new rules are part of the British public broadcaster’s attempts to maintain impartiality and curb perceptions of bias through follows, likes, retweets, or other forms of sharing posts online.

The announcement drew criticism from other news publications. Jim Waterson, media editor at The Guardian, tweeted Thursday that this “would be an interesting policy to see implemented across the industry”.

New BBC social media rules explicitly ban their journalists from criticising fellow BBC journalists on Twitter. Which would be an interesting policy to see implemented across the industry.

— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) October 29, 2020

Even BBC News lead presenter Huw Edwards, who is Welsh, tweeted about the guidelines on emojis by using an emoji of the flag of Wales in his tweet.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 The BBC's new social media guidance says that the "use of emojis can – accidentally, or deliberately – undercut an otherwise impartial post" 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

— Huw Edwards (@huwbbc) October 29, 2020

Slew of criticism

BBC presenters and editorial staff have faced criticism for sharing personal views on Twitter, such as during last winter’s general elections in Britain. Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg had repeated a false allegation that a Tory minister’s aide had been hit by a Labour activist. North America Editor Jon Sopel had been attacked for tweets that were critical of US President Donald Trump.

In September this year, ‘Match of the Day’ presenter and former footballer Gary Lineker had landed in a controversy for his tweets criticising the government and Brexit.

Amid calls for his resignation, Lineker took a £400,000 pay cut to remain as host of the show for the next five years, along with an agreement to be more careful in his use of Twitter.

In a report about the new social media guidelines, Lineker has been described as someone “who often uses his Twitter feed to comment on non-football matters”.

That same month, Bobby Friction from the BBC Asian Network described the current British government as a “festival of faeces” in a tweet, which he later deleted after his employer intervened.