And yes, that is former President Donald Trump, who has just launched a lawsuit against the BBC for a frankly mind-boggling $10 billion. And on Monday, that lawsuit was filed in federal court in Miami. It centers on an award-winning documentary that Trump claims cut together his speech to supporters before the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.
In the complaint, Trump’s lawyers argue that the edited documentary has resulted in “overwhelming reputational and financial harm” to Trump. They accuse him of the greatest defamation due to the misrepresentation of his comments. They underscore that many of the edits omitted important language in which he supported nonviolent protests.
Trump is pursuing “damages in an amount not less than $5,000,000,000” for each of two counts against the BBC: one for defamation and another for violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Earlier in the day, Trump confirmed his intention to file the lawsuit, stating, “I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth, literally… I guess they used AI or something.” In part, this assertion is an expression of his own irritation at the way narratives articulated by the media discipline public perception.
The BBC is fighting back, claiming that there is no legal justification for the suit. For Trump to prevail in his case, he will need to overcome the U.S. constitution’s strong protections for free expression and free press. For one thing, he basically has to prove that the corrections that the BBC published were false without a shadow of a doubt and defamatory. In addition, he needs to demonstrate that the BBC’s actions were taken with the intent of deceiving viewers or at least recklessly.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team criticized the BBC, stating that it “has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses.” This powerful sentiment reverberates Trump’s more general litigious trend toward any and all U.S. media entities.
This lawsuit far from is the last word for Trump. He is well-known for his frequent success suing big publications, such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Other well-known media entities, including CBS and ABC, have agreed to settlement of lawsuits with Trump. This case is a high-profile example of the continuing Trump-press war.
The impact this lawsuit will have will be determined by how adeptly it navigates that complicated crossroad of media portrayal and freedom of speech. It needs to confront these troubling claims of defamation. In fact, Trump is currently working to hold the BBC accountable. This case has the potential to be extremely impactful for both media and legal communities.
