BBC Staff Revolt Over Job Cuts By Posting Laughing Emojis During Management Call

EXCLUSIVE: BBC employees expressed their defiance over job cuts by posting laughing emojis during a management call, in which the corporation’s £500 million ($660M) savings plan was discussed. In a sign of growing staff unrest over the steady stream of cost-cutting announcements across the BBC, some workers made their feelings known on a Microsoft Teams call earlier this week. Leaders in BBC Media Tech, the unit that powers iPlayer and other online services, were detailing plans to slash 110 roles when employees started posting a “storm” of laughing-crying and other emojis. The protest came as the BBC braces to announce further cuts next week, with director general Matt Brittin planning to address staff in a Town Hall on Wednesday, expected to be chaired by Radio 4 Today show host Anna Foster. Watch on Deadline As first revealed by Deadline, insiders expect Brittin to confirm TV and radio network closures after delaying plans to announce the changes this week. BBC Three is widely expected to be in the firing line, while there is also concern about Radio 4 Extra being among the services under threat. Multiple sources confirmed that the emoji revolt took place this week, with one person saying it was hard for managers to ignore the characters as they drifted across the screen when they spoke. Insiders said questions and comments are usually locked down during internal calls, but the emoji function was still open to workers — and it was used. Kelly Kowal, the BBC chief operations and portfolio officer, was interrupted by the blizzard of emojis, and she later voiced her displeasure about the events, as well as the tone of discussions in staff Slack forums. In a Slack message, reviewed by Deadline and published in full below, Kowal said: “I want to be clear that some of the comments and behaviour during the discussion were not appropriate and fell short of the standards of respect and constructive challenge I expect from us as a team.” She continued: “We absolutely should challenge each other, disagree and have robust conversations – that’s important. But it needs to be done respectfully and professionally. “Personal or dismissive comments, as well as posting images or GIFs in response to what was being discussed, is not acceptable. More importantly, it was disrespectful to our colleagues who were directly affected from yesterday’s announcement and detracted from what should have been a serious and constructive discussion.” Andy Ryan, director of technology support and engineering operations, told staff in a separate call that the emojis were “challenging behaviour” and that the BBC would confront “individuals” to discuss their actions. The BBC Media Tech job cuts are part of a fresh £37M round of savings after the division delivered £42M of cuts earlier this year. A further £23M of savings are planned for early 2027, meaning BBC Media Tech will contribute £102M of savings to the corporation’s overall target of £500M, which the BBC must deliver because of the growing number of Brits who are refusing to pay for the licence fee. The BBC tech division will embrace AI to reduce costs, according to Kowal. The unit is also expected to focus on fewer products and push more resource into boosting iPlayer. Brittin, the BBC director general, has been candid about the need to improve iPlayer recommendations and user experience. The BBC declined to comment.