The Mail on Sunday reports that the educational website, accessed by millions of pupils, has been promoting increased migration.
The BBC has been criticised for pushing Left-wing ideas on their Bitesize website (Image: Getty)
The BBC has been criticised for “brainwashing” students after an investigation found that its educational website, BBC Bitesize, is promoting “extreme” left-wing views to millions of users. The website, launched in 1998, is recommended as an educational tool by most state schools across the UK, with nearly 1.7 million pupils accessing the platform every week. However, following a review to its material for pre-GSCE secondary school pupils, the Mail on Sunday claims that the platform has been pushing specific views on migration, including through a game called Increasing Immigration, which it claims rewards players for granting migrants amnesty.
The instructions stated: “We don’t have enough people of working age to keep our society running smoothly. We should try to attract migrant workers and incorporate them into our economy.”
Each option comes with a budget “cost” and once they have chosen, they find out the impacts on the economy, public health and the environment. In one scenario, students are told that “a few” immigrants are living here without proper visas or permission, and they can either deport them or grant them an amnesty.
Those who choose deportation lose a point on economy and one on public health. They are also warned: “This can be potentially dangerous for them [the immigrants]. Don’t expect this to be unchallenged!”
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Those who pick to grant an amnesty are told “this will make them very happy,” and are rewarded with two points in the same categories.
In a second scenario, it claims geography pupils are told that allowing people to pass through the border easily “could really help grow our economy”. They are offered the option of “open borders,” resulting in another three economy points and two public health ones, in contrast to voting no points for selecting the “too radical” option.
The website features a game that rewards pupils who choose to increase migration (Image: BBC Bitesize)
Danny Cohen, a former controller of BBC television, called for an urgent investigation into the findings. “The BBC needs to explain why its educational website is pushing extreme Left-wing ideologies to schoolchildren,” he said. “There is such a lack of balance in so many areas of the BBC’s output that it cannot be seriously defended as coincidental.”
Former Tory Education Secretary Gavin Williamson MP said: “The mask has slipped and the BBC has yet again betrayed its rampant Left-wing political agenda. The state broadcaster brainwashing children using a homework game is like something from a North Korean re-education camp.”
Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott has demanded that the BBC remove the game from its website, adding that it has a “duty to remain impartial” rather than to “push a Left-wing political agenda onto young children”.
According to the MoS, the website appears to list twice as many benefits to migration compared to the disadvantages. It also has material that promotes a world without borders. A video for Welsh geography students states: “As technology evolves… the question remains: can we learn to live with globalisation? And with it, fulfil the promise of a truly borderless world.”
Alex Burghart, Shadow Cabinet Office Secretary, said: “The BBC was set up to inform, educate and entertain – not misinform, re-educate and brainwash.”
A BBC spokesman said: “BBC Bitesize works with educational consultants to develop resources that help young people explore and understand a wide range of topics, aligned to the respective curriculums across the UK.
‘While we don’t accept the characterisation of Bitesize in this story, we regularly review content to ensure it remains relevant and to ensure it meets the BBC’s editorial standards and will review these examples in that context.”
Sky News viewers fume ‘it should be illegal’ in furious Labour bias row
The complaints followed Yvette Cooper’s appearance on the programme.
Yvette Cooper was interviewed by Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika on Sky News (Image: Sky News)
Sky News was flooded with complaints after Health Secretary Yvette Cooper appeared on the programme on Sunday (October 18). Cooper, who is married to Good Morning Britain presenter Ed Balls, discussed various issues as she was interviewed by Ayesha Hazarika. Hazarika questioned the Labour politician about the current investigation into whether the NHS records of a man killed by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park last week were accessed inappropriately. They also spoke about the war in Ukraine, with the politician revealing that the government has taken a “different view” to the crisis than that of US President Donald Trump.
But it was the Sky News Sunday Morning presenter that sparked outrage, as Hazarika is a Labour peer.
One argued that it should be “illegal” for someone working for a political party to be interviewed by another who openly supports that party.
Others believe that politicians should not be permitted to pursue careers in broadcast journalism, as it undermines impartiality.
Additional viewers were confused by Cooper addressing Hazarika as a “journalist”.
“This is mental. It is completely and utterly mental. This should literally be illegal. It is not unreasonable to ban politicians from being broadcast journalists FFS,” one fumed on X.
The bias accusations continued, as another said: “It’s a joke. Nobody from either House should be presenting news/politics on any channel, go do your own podcast if you must.”
A third added: “She’s a Labour peer and should not be interviewing her!! Typical mainstream drivel.”
A fourth weighed in: “Ayesha is a journalist? Which paper or news outlet did she do her apprenticeship or grad scheme on? Where did she do her NCTJ, her undergrad or post grad degree or qualification? I know she has a law degree & did a comedy course but the journalism training must have passed me by.”
Someone else claimed: “If this was a Tory MP being interviewed by a Tory peer on GB News, there would be outrage of impartiality from everyone.”
During the interview, Cooper said people “need to be sacked” if patient records were accessed wrongly. William Chapman was mauled to death last week after he jumped into a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
Shortly after, Yorkshire Ambulance Service Trust said there may have been two separate incidents involving two members of staff who accessed, or attempted to access, medical information “without a legitimate reason to do so” following the incident.
Cooper said: “I take this extremely seriously. I know there’s a specific investigation going into that case, but we just need to be absolutely clear.
“No member of NHS staff should be accessing records that they do not need to see for medical care and reasons, simply for something to do with voyeurism or what is in the news, or any of that kind of reason.”
She added: “We have to have firm action against these people. Should be if there are breaches, then people actually need to be sacked.”