04 Jul 2026
issue 04 July 2026
Comments
Just when you think this government cannot get any madder, it publishes a truly mental green paper. Called ‘Watch this Space’ and produced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, it suggests forcing social media platforms to make content produced by public-service media providers, like the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, ‘prominent and easily discoverable’. So, if you search for an instructional video on YouTube about how to do the foxtrot, it would steer you towards an episode of Strictly Come Dancing. And the content recommended for you by a platform’s algorithm wouldn’t be based on your personal preferences, but on what DCMS – or possibly Ofcom, the details are vague – thinks you ought to be consuming.
In other words, the government’s solution to the declining popularity of our ancient media dinosaurs is protectionism. What could possibly go wrong? Well, for one thing, Donald Trump might retaliate, forcing social media companies in the US to give more prominence to domestically produced content. That would do serious harm to the UK’s freelance content producers, with the US being the largest market for many of them. Even if America doesn’t respond in kind, the new regime could damage the very broadcasters the government is trying to help. Suppose you keep getting tawdry Channel 4 reality shows popping up in your feed when you’re looking for second world war documentaries; you might respond by hitting ‘Dislike’ underneath them, at which point the algorithm concludes they’re rubbish and stops recommending them in countries where they still have to compete on a level playing field.
