Donald Trump is pursuing a $10 billion defamation case against the BBC in Florida over a Panorama documentary that edited together parts of his January 6 speech before the 2024 US election. His lawyers argue the programme amounted to election interference, but newly disclosed BBC data suggests only 285 iPlayer streams may have come from US-linked IP addresses, casting doubt on the scale of its American reach.

The documentary, Trump: A Second Chance?, was viewed 570,000 times on iPlayer overall, with 0.05% of streams potentially originating in the United States and 34 potentially linked to Florida. BBC distribution director Richard Cooper said IP data could not conclusively establish a viewer’s location, and the Florida streams were connected to a cruise-ship internet provider; it is also unclear whether any US streams occurred before the election. The BBC is contesting the claim but has apologised, accepting that the edit could have implied a direct call for violence.