BBC-Gary Lineker controversy a lesson in employee social media supervision
By Neil Hodge2023-04-14T13:09:00
During March, the BBC took its best-known sports presenter off-air after he criticized the government’s asylum policy on his personal Twitter account.
Gary Lineker, a former England soccer captain, tweeted on March 7 the government’s plans to ban asylum seekers and economic migrants who arrived on small boats from settling in Britain was “immeasurably cruel” and said the language being used was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.”
The U.K. government, which sets a tariff to fund the BBC, wasn’t pleased. The BBC said it had a “frank conversation” with Lineker about its need to remain impartial. The broadcaster subsequently took him off air on March 10.