Many people around the world, including Indians, regarded the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as an independent and impartial organization. However, when billionaire businessman Elon Musk tweeted the label "government-funded media" in reference to the BBC's official Twitter handle, the organization disputed that label, saying it was funded through a license fee paid by the British public. But how does the BBC raise money without being government-funded? In reality, the broadcaster has a legal power to collect a license fee from every household in the United Kingdom for independent funding, meaning that every household that owns a television is required to pay for the television license. The BBC enforces compliance with this requirement by having its own private army of enforcers, who raid households and prosecute more than 100,000 people annually, many of them poor, immigrants, and elderly individuals. The dark underbelly of this sophisticated global "liberalism" highlights a private media organization's potential to engage in UK government-licensed extortion in the name of independent funding, which could have concerning implications for media freedom and impartiality.