World Service must be fully state-funded to counter disinformation, say BBC bosses

Figures inside the BBC think it is unfair that licence fee-payers in the UK pay for content delivered to audiences overseas. Photograph: Ahmed Fesal Bayaa/IMAGESLIVE/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Ministers must take on the full costs of the BBC’s World Service to counter an “aggressive” disinformation drive by Russia around the globe, BBC bosses are preparing to argue.

Amid concerns about the scale of state-backed content after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, senior BBC figures believe it is “undeniable” that the government should shoulder the costs of championing “western values” via the financially strained World Service.