U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to slam $1 billion lawsuit on the British Broadcasting Corporation for a documentary in which his January 6, 2021, speech was doctored to create an impression that he incited rioters.

Mr Trump’s legal team in a letter addressed to the BBC gave the newspaper a deadline of November 14 to do “full and fair retraction” of the Panorama documentary – or face  $1bn (£760m) legal suit.

“If the BBC does not comply with the above by November 14, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EST, President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars) in damages. The BBC is on notice,” the letter written by Alejandro Brito, one of Mr Trump’s lawyers, read.

The BBC confirmed it received Mr Trump’s letter on Monday. The BBC came under fire after The Telegraph reported that the platform doctored Mr Trump’s speech to appear he incited rioters to invade Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, after losing the election.

After the expose, top brass at the BBC including Director-General Tim Davie and Chief Executive Officer of News, Deborah Turness, resigned from their positions.

In September, YouTube, Google owned video streaming platform, agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a legal suit by President Donald Trump after his account was suspended following the January 6, 2021 attacks on the Capitol Hill.

Facebook’s parent company, Meta had also agreed to pay $25 million to settle Mr Trumps’ lawsuit over his 2021 suspension from their platform, while microblogging site, X, also agreed to pay $10 million to settle Mr Trump’s lawsuit.  

Similarly, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to Mr Trump’s presidential library as settlement over defamation suit against its anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate assertion that the president-elect was had been found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. 

Another American news platform owned by Paramount, CBS, agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over editing that distorted “60 Minutes” news programme.