1/ [Thread]Let's Fact check @defundbbc. The #DefundtheBBC is a dis/misinformation operation (doesn't mean Russian), I mean there are repeated falsehoods that either indicate malice, overwhelming ignorance or selective bias. The discourse is also very propaganda-like ...

2/ Falsehoods. On June 9th, the Defund the BBC claimed that the 'BBC' did not report on Churchill's statue being defaced. This is false, as you can see from the screenshot on the right, it was reported as a mini video on 8th June. Here's the link https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-london-52972531/black-lives-matter-protest-why-was-churchill-s-statue-defaced

3/ On 8 June they posted an image of altercations with the police claiming again "why didn't they report this?". The BBC did and more. Here's a screenshot (on the right) from BBC showing a still from an actual video of the bike being thrown into the police horse. A video folks...

4/ Today they suggest that Fawlty Towers was taken down because of the scene with Basil Fawlty and the Germans and the joke "don't mention the war". Ironically, they link to a Guardian article that even clarifies that it was removed due to 'racial slurs'. Highly misleading

5/ Much of the other content is deliberately emotive or misleading. They mentioned for example, Gary Lineker's 1.75 million salary, without mentioning that he agreed to a pay cut last year. Also, why do they includes @maitlis - she was the 27th highest paid in 18/19. We know why

6/ In terms of discourse, they try to evoke populism with absolutely no evidence. Saying things like "Ordinary people are sick of" and claiming to know the "truth". Hardly surprising considering they retweet the EU, who brand the BBC "the hard left's chief propoganda organ"

7/ We have no idea who, or what 'ordinary people' means, let alone what they think. Yet this campaign, set up by someone affiliated with the Tories, leaves me unconvinced. I'm all for legitimate criticism of the BBC, which we can do since it is PBS, but why would a

8/ campaign resort to disinformation to get a point across? Why criticise the BBC for not doing something it is actually doing. Either

1) You're bad at research
2) You don't actually watch the BBC and just listen to third party rants about BBC
3) You are deliberately lying

9/ Finally, they keep bragging about 66000 followers in a week, when only 33,800 people have signed their petition to "revoke the BBC license using legislation". Makes me wonder who is actually following them....

10/ Footnote: The reason I say mis/disinformation is that

disinformation = information deliberately intended to mislead
misinformation = information shared without intent to mislead (accidentally or erroneously).

It is not clear which is the case here. - Fin

11/ Sorry actually one more thing. The DefundtheBBC is actually asking for donations. Asking for donations based on misleading and inaccurate information to me is a dishonest scheme and one that should be further scrutinized.