The British government is reportedly planning to pressure large social media companies to actively promote the BBC and other legacy media outlets, in a bid to confront “disinformation”.
Amid increasing attempts by the UK government to police mainly American social networks, including the impending ban on under-16s, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s administration is said to be interested in fundamentally altering algorithms in favour of so-called trusted news outlets.
According to a report from London’s Daily Telegraph, Downing Street is set to hold talks this week on plans to require companies such as Facebook and YouTube to prioritise content produced by publicly owned media broadcasters like the BBC and Channel 4.
However, the plans do not appear to be merely an attempt to prop up the BBC’s declining popularity, as the report claims the government is also intent on pressuring social media firms to promote legacy private media, including ITV.
The broadsheet cited anonymous sources within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who are said to have asserted that in pressuring social media companies to prioritise such outlets, it would help the British public “discover trusted news sources” on the internet.
The government is said to believe that legacy outlets have waned in popularity because of social media algorithms, rather than consumers simply preferring other content.
Despite apparently being held up by the British government as a “trusted” news source, the BBC has been embroiled in major scandals over the veracity of its reporting in the past year.
For example, last November, then-BBC Director General Tim Davie and the CEO of BBC News, Deborah Turness, were forced to resign after a January 6th documentary “materially misled” viewers into thinking that President Donald Trump had called on his supporters to riot by splicing together different segments of his speech.
The following month, the British public broadcaster was forced to admit that it had shared fake news about President Trump supposedly wanting to put former Congresswoman Liz Cheney in front of a “firing squad”, when in reality, he had merely used the rhetorical “chicken hawk” argument, saying that she should be willing to fight in a war if she was calling for one.
More recently, the BBC issued an apology to Brexit leader Nigel Farage earlier this month after one of its presenters shared altered quotes from the Reform boss on multiple occasions.
The apparent plans to pressure social media to promote the BBC and other legacy outlets come amid a broader push to control what the British public can see online, with the government set to impose a social media ban on all children under 16.
Critics have warned that the plans will likely require all adults to obtain a form of digital ID to prove they are not children. Others have warned that youngsters will likely get around the ban by using services such as VPNs, which the government has also hinted may be banned.