The new director-general spoke to MPs today during the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. During the session, Mr Davie revealed the organisation will be publishing new guidelines for their employees when using social media platforms. Not only will there be a new set of guidelines but he also claimed, if those rules are violated, the broadcaster will remove staff from Twitter.
Hitting back at the claims, the Match of the Day presenter – who has at times dipped into politics – claimed this wasn’t possible.
He said: “I think only Twitter can take people off Twitter.”
Mr Davie’s claim was in response to a question from chair of the committee, Julian Knight.
Mr Davie added: “We are going to be publishing in the next few weeks, and this is imminent, clear social media guidelines, and they will cover both news and current affairs, and beyond news and current affairs.
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Mr Davie took over as director-general from Lord Tony Hall last month.
He has taken the job at a time where the BBC has been forced to cut back on its regional news stations.
The broadcaster announced it would cut 450 jobs across the country in order to save £25million by 2022 – although this has since been paused.
These cuts come on top of the 150 roles set to be dropped in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The BBC has done this in order to save £125million this year, amid the scrutiny over its TV licence fee.
In order to justify the fee, Mr Davie claimed he was working to improve the overall quality of the broadcaster to give maximum value to the public.
Asked on the possibility of decriminalising the non-payment of the licence, he refused to confirm whether the Government will move to do this or not.
He added: “If you are a law-abiding, paying customer and licence fee payer, what I am trying to do is get you the most value for money, and the decriminalisation proposal, frankly in my mind, just doesn’t pass the logic test.”
