GB News escalates row with Ofcom after claiming it suppressed data showing it was more trusted than the BBC

Max Thompson, Campaigns Officer

27 October 2026

GB News has stepped up its attack on Ofcom, accusing the watchdog of suppressing data showing that its viewers rate the channel as more trustworthy than viewers of the BBC rate the BBC, and has threatened to escalate its complaint.

In September, Ofcom published its latest news consumption survey, which found that GB News viewers scored the channel more highly for trustworthiness than viewers of the BBC, Sky News, ITV and Channel 4 scored those channels.

Viewers who took part in the survey also ranked GB News above all the other broadcasters for the range of viewpoints on offer, and scored it joint first with Sky News for impartiality.

In previous years, Ofcom has published these figures alongside a press release covering its main findings. This year, the watchdog omitted them.

The row comes as the Government presses ahead with plans to make social media platforms promote "trustworthy" news sources such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. The proposals could see more critical outlets, including GB News and The Telegraph, demoted. Ministers have yet to explain clearly how broadcasters and newspapers would qualify as "trustworthy".

After mounting criticism, Ofcom said that the delay in releasing the underlying data was down to an administrative error. The watchdog also said that the trustworthiness figures had been omitted from the report because a change in methodology meant that comparisons with previous years could be misleading. The underlying data was later published online, but it still did not appear in the report itself.

GB News has questioned whether the regulator deliberately withheld evidence about the channel. Its chief executive, Angelos Frangopoulos, raised concerns that Ofcom had treated other broadcasters differently. He asked the regulator to hand over its correspondence with the Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, and said that he would contact her directly if it failed to do so.

"It is difficult to avoid drawing a conclusion that Ofcom is failing to apply a fair, consistent and transparent approach to its own research findings across broadcasters."

Mr Frangopoulos also asked for assurances that the watchdog "intends to fully comply with its own regulatory principles requiring regulatory interventions to be evidence-based, proportionate, consistent, accountable and transparent".

Read more in The Telegraph.