The British Broadcasting Corporation has filed a complaint with the UK’s antitrust regulator, complaining that aggregators such as Apple News and Google News minimize links to news sources they publish.
Apple Insider reports that the BBC is asking the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority to require Apple and Google to more prominently indicate news sources. Although the CMA’s decision will theoretically apply only to British publications, any changes made by aggregators are likely to affect other publishers as well.
“If audiences derive value from our content and services, but attribute that value to aggregators rather than the BBC, then this undermines the perceived value of the BBC,” the broadcaster wrote in its complaint.
This perceived value may be particularly important to the BBC, as it receives most of its funding from license fees paid by British households – so it is important that the broadcaster’s work is visible and appreciated to maintain support for these fees.
Apple recently suspended its artificially intelligent news service following complaints about inaccuracies from the BBC and other publishers.
