‘Brainwashed by BBC’ Website Urges Pupils to Support Left-Wing Views

The BBC has been accused of “brainwashing” children after a Mail on Sunday investigation alleged that its education website promotes what critics describe as “extreme” Left-wing positions on migration, Net Zero and inequality to millions of pupils.

BBC Bitesize, which is promoted by almost every UK state school, encourages children to play an online game called Increasing Immigration. Players are rewarded for selecting “open borders” and granting an amnesty to migrants living in the country illegally.

The website also suggests that people who worry migrants could take jobs from local workers are “prejudiced”, while presenting a series of claims about migration’s economic benefits.

Pupils are urged to campaign for controversial Net Zero policies and join human rights organisations such as Amnesty International. The site also praises the divisive Black Lives Matter movement and Left-wing activists including Greta Thunberg.

The findings are likely to intensify allegations of political bias at the broadcaster, following a series of scandals that have damaged the BBC’s reputation, including its editing of a speech by Donald Trump.

The revelations come at a pivotal point for the Corporation, with Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy expected to publish a White Paper on the renewal of its charter before Christmas.

BBC director general Matt Brittin has promised to address concerns about bias by introducing technology designed to monitor how frequently particular words and phrases are used.

Danny Cohen, a former controller of BBC television, called last night 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.”

Launched in 1998, BBC Bitesize is one of Britain’s largest education websites. Half of all children aged between four and 16 say they use the service, while almost 1.7 million pupils access it each week.

BBC bosses have described the service as a central expression of the broadcaster’s founding “Reithian” mission to “inform, educate and entertain”.

The Mail on Sunday investigation examined BBC Bitesize material aimed at pre-GCSE secondary school pupils aged between 11 and 14.

One example asks pupils to play Increasing Immigration, a game in which they make decisions intended to raise the number of people moving into the country.

Every choice carries a budget “cost”, after which players are shown its supposed impact on the economy, public health and the environment.

Instructions for the game, hosted on Roblox, state: “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.”

In one scenario, pupils are told that “a few” immigrants are living in the country without the necessary visas or permission. They can choose either to deport them or grant an amnesty. Selecting deportation removes one point from both the economy and public health scores, while carrying the warning: “This can be potentially dangerous for them [the immigrants]. Don’t expect this to be unchallenged!”

By contrast, pupils who choose an amnesty are told that “this will make them very happy” and receive two points in both categories.

In another scenario, geography pupils are told that allowing people to cross the border easily “could really help grow our economy”. They can select “open borders”, which adds three points to the economy score and two to public health, or reject the policy as “too radical”, receiving no points.

Those who opt for open borders receive the optimistic message: ‘I’m excited to see where this goes!’ In contrast, pupils who select ‘too radical’ are told: ‘Perhaps you’re right to be cautious.’

A third example involves ‘poorly-paid, demanding’ jobs available in food processing. Pupils are told hiring locals costs the fictional budget two points, but employing migrants costs one. In this scenario, each option boosts the economy by the same amount, but hiring migrants costs players less.

The BBC this weekend said players are not rewarded for choosing political positions and that points are also awarded for training local people and for closing borders.

Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott last night demanded the BBC remove the game from its website. ‘The BBC has crossed a line,’ she said. ‘They have a duty to remain impartial, and yet they are using learning tools as a vehicle to push a Left-wing political agenda onto young children.

‘Advocating open borders encourages illegal small boat crossings. These are the type of toxic resources dressed up as education which should be nowhere near the classroom.’

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Accompanying material for teachers explains the game is set in ‘Southern Europe’, although this is unclear when playing.

Elsewhere on the Bitesize website, learning material is littered with contested claims about the economic benefits of migration.

Citizenship pupils in Northern Ireland are told that while immigrants can put pressure on housing and hospital waiting lists, they also ‘contribute more in tax income that they use in services’ and ‘make a significant contribution to the economy: they fill skills gaps, pay taxes, and spend money’.

Geography pupils in Wales, meanwhile, are told that migrants pump a ‘staggering amount of money’ into the economy.

The website does not, however, make clear that the economic impact of migrants varies greatly depending on their skills and the type of visa they have been issued.

Those on skilled worker visas do contribute more in tax than they use in services but care workers and the immigrant relatives of British citizens have a negative fiscal impact, Oxford University’s respected Migration Observatory has found.

The Northern Ireland study material also states: ‘Some people may think that migrants take jobs from local people. This view likely arises from prejudice.’

Another part of the website lists twice as many benefits for migration compared to disadvantages.

BBC Bitesize also appears to be advocating 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.’

Former BBC boss Mr Cohen added: ‘Parents ought to be deeply concerned that the BBC is encouraging children to conform to extreme ideas such as open borders. It is yet another unacceptable failure of the BBC’s requirement to ensure impartiality.’

A video on the website also describes the contentious Net Zero policy as an ‘important goal’ and suggests that pupils could ‘petition your local government to act’. Another video, for students in Wales, states: ‘For us to reach Net Zero in Wales, we’ll have to do things differently. We may need to fly less, eat less meat or stick to sustainably farmed meat.’

But mainstream politicians have rejected that idea. Sir Keir Starmer last year said tackling climate change ‘does not mean telling people how to run their lives’.

BBC Bitesize material also hails a string of Left-wing and progressive ‘political’ icons, including climate activist Greta Thunberg and 1980s campaign group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners.

A video asks if pupils joined Ms Thunberg’s school protests, when pupils skipped Friday classes to campaign against climate change.

Elsewhere it says that a statue to US anti-slavery campaigner Frederick Douglass in Belfast is a ‘reminder that anti-racism movements such as Black Lives Matter in Belfast and across Ireland are one with the movements of the rest of the world’.’

The website also says Black Lives Matter ‘campaigns for freedom, justice and equality’. It does not, however, acknowledge how the movement in the UK became highly contentious after it was hijacked by far-Left activists who want to tear down capitalism and abolish the police.

In another video about reducing inequality, the presenter states that ‘the world becomes a fairer place when we take every cause as our own’ and, over footage of a Pride flag, says ‘I will always be an ally to those shouting for equality’.

It also shows demonstrations featuring placards emblazoned with ‘Black Muslim Lives Matter’ and ‘Refugees Welcome’.

In a different section about slavery, Bitesize tells pupils to ‘join and campaign’ with groups such as Amnesty International.

The UK arm of the charity was widely criticised earlier this year after describing gender-critical organisations and a woman’s refuge backed by J. K. Rowling as ‘anti-rights’ groups. It later withdrew the report and referred itself to the Charity Commission.

Alex Burghart, Shadow Cabinet Office Secretary, said: ‘The BBC was set up to inform, educate and entertain –- not misinform, re-educate and brainwash.’ And 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.’

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.’

Director-general Matt Brittin warned in July that the BBC faced a ‘moment of real jeopardy’ after the number of households paying the licence fee fell by more than 500,000 in the past year.

Additional reporting: Gabriel Millard-Clothier