Tencent, a Chinese Communist Party-linked tech firm, has worked with BBC on a host of flagship shows.
“Experts today expressed further concern at Tencent’s relationship with another leading British institution after it emerged that the BBC has signed a string of deals with the Chinese company since 2016 to co-produce a litany of the broadcaster’s flagship shows, including Sir David’s Blue Planet II,” The Telegraph noted.
Other collaborative ventures include a three-year partnership with Tencent to co-produce and distribute “content-rich documentaries” such as Sir David’s natural history show Dynasties.
“Last year, the BBC signed another deal with Tencent to co-produce Seven Worlds, One Planet, which was aired on the Chinese state-controlled channel, CCTV-9,” the outlet also reveals.
The move was labeled “very unwise” and “grotesque” by Members of Parliament given Tencent’s ties to the Chinese government – and rightly so.
The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation has described Tencent as a “tool of the Chinese government,” noting the company has “no meaningful ability to tell the Chinese Communist Party ‘no’ if officials decide to ask for their assistance.”
Tencent also provides “a foundation of technology-facilitated surveillance and social control” as part of the CCP’s broader crusade “to shape the world consistent with its authoritarian model,” the report added.
