US President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
The lawsuit was filed on Monday at a federal court in Miami, Florida. Trump is accusing the BBC of defamation and breaking Florida’s unfair trade laws. He is asking for at least $5 billion in damages for each of the two charges.
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Trump said the BBC edited his January 6, 2021 speech in a wrong way. The speech was made to his supporters before the US Capitol riot. He claimed the broadcaster changed his words and made it look like he encouraged people to attack the Capitol. Trump also suggested that artificial intelligence may have been used to alter the speech.
The documentary was shown last year on the BBC’s current affairs programme, Panorama, shortly before the 2024 US presidential election.
According to Trump, the BBC joined two different parts of his speech to create a false impression that he directly called for violence. At the time, US lawmakers were meeting to confirm Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said the BBC deliberately changed the speech to damage Trump and influence the 2024 election against him. The team also accused the BBC of having a long history of unfair reporting on Trump because of political bias.
The issue caused serious problems within the BBC last month after the edited video received renewed attention. This led to the resignation of the BBC’s director-general and its top news executive.
Trump’s lawsuit claims the edited speech was aired just one week before the 2024 election to harm his chances.
The BBC has denied defaming Trump. However, BBC chairman Samir Shah sent an apology letter to Trump and admitted before a UK parliamentary committee that the organisation should have acted faster after discovering the mistake.
This lawsuit is one of several legal actions Trump has taken against media organisations in recent years. Some of these cases have ended in settlements worth millions of dollars.