The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has lodged a formal complaint with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), arguing that major news aggregators like Apple News and Google News are not giving adequate credit to the sources of the news stories they feature.
According to a report by Apple Insider, the public broadcaster is urging the antitrust regulator to compel these tech giants to display news source attribution more prominently on their platforms. The BBC contends that the current lack of clear crediting diminishes its visibility and the perceived value of its journalism.
“If audiences derive value from our content and services but attribute that value to gatekeepers instead of the BBC, then that undermines the perceived value of the BBC,” the corporation stated in its submission to the CMA.
This perceived value is particularly critical for the BBC, which relies heavily on a mandatory licence fee paid by UK households for its funding. The broadcaster argues that ensuring its work is clearly recognized is essential for maintaining public support for this funding model.
While any ruling by the CMA would officially apply only within the UK, industry observers note that changes implemented by global platforms like Apple and Google in response could potentially affect publishers worldwide.
This complaint surfaces shortly after Apple reportedly paused its AI-driven news summaries following concerns about inaccuracies raised by publishers, including the BBC. The outcome of the CMA investigation could set a significant precedent for how news content is attributed on major digital platforms.
Apple has told the CMA that the company “continuously strives to strike the right balance.”
It added that “restricting Apple’s choices in the design of its mobile devices and services unduly would adversely affect Apple’s and third parties’ incentives to innovate in the UK”.
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