BBC broadcasts are banned in China. China takes revenge on Britain

China has withdrawn the BBC’s broadcast license to BBC World News in China, as the Chinese regulator believes RTA believes the channel is seriously violating guidelines on how foreign media should report from the country.

The BBC’s China broadcast license is seen by many as retaliation for Britain’s Ofcom’s withdrawal of the broadcast license for Chinese news channel CGTN earlier this month. This was done after the authority deemed that CGTN was under Chinese state control, which is not permitted under Ofcom’s rules. After CGTN’s license was revoked by Ofcom, the channel is no longer allowed to broadcast in the UK, Germany and several other European countries.

BBC World News in China has, among other things, broadcast articles on Chinese internment camps in China’s Xinjiang region. Among other things, hundreds of thousands of people from the Muslim Uighur minority have been reported to have been arrested and indoctrinated.

It should be noted that BBC World News was not freely available on the Chinese mainland. The channel was mostly only available in international hotels in China and Hong Kong.