National Pulse reports that the BBC has partnered with technology companies that have been accused of being “tools” of the Chinese Communist government.
Tencent, a technology company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, has worked with the BBC on a series of flagship programs.
The Daily Telegraph notes, “Experts today expressed further concern about Tencent’s relationship with another major British institution after it was revealed that the BBC has signed a series of deals with Chinese companies since 2016 to co-produce a string of the broadcaster’s flagship programs, including David Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II.
Other projects include a three-year partnership with Tencent to co-produce and distribute “content-rich documentaries” such as Sir David’s natural history program Dynasties.
The outlet also revealed that “last year, the BBC signed another deal with Tencent to co-produce Seven Worlds, One Planet, which was broadcast on the official Communist Party channel CCTV-9.”
Given Tencent’s ties to the Chinese Communist government, the move was called “very ill-advised” and “grotesque” by members of Congress – and rightly so.
The State Department’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation described Tencent as a “tool of the Chinese Communist government,” noting that the company “has no ability to say ‘no’ to the Chinese Communist Party in the event that officials decide to ask for their assistance.”
Tencent also provides “a basis for technology-driven surveillance and social control” as part of the CCP’s broader campaign to shape the world to fit its authoritarian model, the report added.
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