BNN Breaking
 | |
Type of site | News website |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Hong Kong |
| Founder(s) | Gurbaksh Chahal |
| URL | bnnbreaking |
| Launched | 2022 |
BNN Breaking is a news website based in Hong Kong launched in 2022 by Indian-American entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal.
Reception
 | This article's "criticism" or "controversy" section may compromise the article's neutrality. (February 2024) |
The BNN Breaking website claims to have an extensive network of reporters on the ground that supply information to major news outlets.[1] However, it has been described by others as a news aggregator, and has also been accused of using artificial intelligence to extract and summarize news from other sources, often resulting in misleading and inaccurate coverage. For example, it has been noted that purported journalists credited by the site publish dozens of articles a day, indicating a potential use of AI-driven content aggregation. It has also been accused of spreading misinformation about prominent politicians and celebrities.[2][3] The San Francisco Standard has described BNN Breaking as "a purported news website that somehow publishes hundreds articles per day from virtually every country on Earth."[4]
Fake news
In October 2023, BNN Breaking published three articles that were critical of San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston, all of which contained misleading or false information. One of the articles described Preston as "arguably the most attention-seeking, spineless, and downright insufferable politician the city has ever seen." The same article included a comment by BNN Breaking founder Gurbaksh Chahal which asserted that the network maintains a "commitment to impartiality".[2]
The first article included fake quotes attributed to Preston and the inaccurate claim that he had resigned from his District 5 office after a Twitter exchange with Elon Musk; an apparent error by the article's author Geetha Pillai in aggregating news that he had in fact left Twitter after Musk suggested he should be jailed and pledged $100,000 for a campaign to oust him from office. This misinformation was then picked up by Microsoft's news aggregation site MSN. The article was finally modified over 18 hours after it first went live to reflect that Preston's departure was from Twitter and not his political office. However, it did not acknowledge that the correction had been made and retained multiple fake quotes attributed to Preston. Gurbaksh Chahal also minimized the impact of the false claims made by BNN Breaking, describing it as a "small oversight" and "a mistake that was promptly corrected". He then falsely claimed that Preston has not approached BNN Breaking for clarification, and accused him of "leveraging the San Francisco Chronicle for a personal attack against me, the founder."[2][5]
A second article blamed Preston's policies for a spike in homelessness between 2017 and 2019, despite the fact that he had only assumed office in mid-December 2019. A further article claimed that an effort to get Preston recalled from office had gathered enough signatures to be put on the ballot, although no such effort existed.[2] Preston responded to the incident by stating: "People deserve reliable news sources, I sincerely hope that this is not a preview of what’s to come and that we never normalize this kind of disinformation."[5]
On 11 October 2023, an article published by BNN Breaking featured an image of Irish broadcaster Dave Fanning alongside the headline that a prominent Irish broadcaster was on trial for alleged sexual misconduct. The trial in question was unrelated to Fanning, and the article was taken down the day after it was published. In January 2024, Fanning launched legal action against BNN Breaking for defamation.[3]
Twitter suspension
In June 2022, Twitter permanently suspended BNN Breaking and all associated accounts, which had previously been verified by Twitter. Despite being officially established in 2022, the BNN Breaking Twitter account @BNNBreaking dates back to 2015 and experienced a surge in followers during the COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020. The account was previously owned by Netherlands-based BNO News, but was purchased and renamed by Chahal. BNN Breaking had up to 80 associated accounts on Twitter by the time they were permanently suspended for violations of Twitter's policy on spam and platform manipulation. Chahal accused Business Insider of "engineering" Twitter's enforcement of its policies against his company.[6]
The BNN Breaking Twitter account, as well as that of its founder Gurbaksh Chahal, often engaged directly and aggressively with users who criticized the network, and Chahal made multiple violent threats against other Twitter users.[7]
References
- ^ "About BNN". bnnbreaking.com. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Regimbal, Alec (October 18, 2023). "'Fake news' site publishes more false stories about San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston". sfgate.com. SFGate. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
- ^ a b O Faolain, Aodhan (January 15, 2024). "Dave Fanning files defamation case over publication of news story wrongly linking him to criminal trial". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
- ^ Sjostedt, David (October 18, 2023). "Only Elected Democratic Socialist in San Francisco Target of Fake News Site". sfstandard.com. The San Francisco Standard. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
- ^ a b Toledo, Aldo (October 16, 2023). "S.F. Supervisor Dean Preston targeted by false resignation report after recent attacks". sfchronicle.com. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
- ^ Hays, Kali (June 28, 2022). "Twitter permanently suspends scores of 'news' accounts under the company BNN founded by Gurbaksh Chahal, former tech CEO convicted of battery". businessinsider.com. Business Insider. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
- ^ Mihindukulasuriya, Regina (October 13, 2022). "Tech millionaire Gurbaksh Chahal is an angry Punjabi lion and Twitter is his target". theprint.in. ThePrint. Retrieved January 27, 2024.